The  Meaning  of  Service 


HARRY  EMERSON  FOSDICK 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  MANHOOD  OF  THE  MASTER,"  "THE  MEANING 
OF  PRAYER,"  "THE  MEANING  OF  FAITH,"  ETC. 


ASSOCIATION    PRESS 

NEW    YORK:    347  MADISON     AVBNUB 
1920 


COPYRIGHT,  1920,  BY 

THE  INTERNATIONAL  COMMITTEE  OF 

YOUNG  MEN'S  CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATIONS 


The  Bible  Text  used  in  this  volume  is  taken  from  the  American  Standard 
Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  copyright,  1901,  by  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  and 
is  used  by  permission. 


To 
FRANK  SHELDOX  FOSDICK 

MY    FATHER 

WHO  FOR  NEARLY  HALF  A  CENTURY,  AS  AN 
EDUCATOR  OF  YOUTH,  HAS  ILLUSTRATED 
IN  HIS  LIFE  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE. 


PREFACE 

This  little  book  completes  a  trilogy  which  it  has  long  been 
my  hope  to  write.  "The  Meaning  of  Prayer"  is  a  study  in 
the  Christian's  inward  experience  of  fellowship  with  God; 
"The  Meaning  of  Faith"  is  a  study  in  the  reasonable  ideas 
on  which  the  Christian  life  is  based ;  and  now  "The  Meaning 
of  Service"  is  a  study  in  the  practical  overflow  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  in  useful  ministry. 

This  last  book  has  been  written  at  a  time  when  its  theme  is 
most  congenial  with  the  crucial  need  of  the  world  and  the 
dominant  mood  of  thoughtful  folk.  The  overturn  of  human 
society  in  the  Great  War  has  inevitably  brought  to  the  top 
those  elements  of  Christian  life  and  thought  which  center 
about  service.  The  task  to  be  accomplished  on  earth  is  so 
immense,  the  cheap  optimisms  which  once  contented  us  are 
so  impossible,  the  enemies  against  whom  the  Christian  pro- 
gram must  win  its  way  are  so  formidable,  and  the  need  of  un- 
selfishness, public-mindedness,  and  sacrificial  love  is  so  urgent, 
that  anyone  who  thinks  at  all  about  humanity's  condition  must 
think  about  service,  its  meaning,  motives,  and  aims.  I  have 
not  tried  to  keep  these  immediate  and  pressing  conditions  of 
our  time  from  showing  themselves  in  this  book.  One  can 
write  more  timelessly  about  prayer  and  faith  than  he  can 
about  service.  Yet  I  trust  that  I  have  not  altogether  lost  the 
accent  of  those  universal  Christian  truths  and  principles  which 
make  service,  in  any  age,  the  indispensable  expression  of 
discipleship  to  the  Master. 

To  many  books  and  many  friends,  beyond  the  possibility  of 
individual  acknowledgment,  I  am  indebted  for  the  inspira- 
tion of  these  studies.  In  particular  I  am  once  more  under 
heavy  obligation  to  my  friend  and  colleague,  Professor 
George  Albert  Coe,  Ph.  D.,  for  his  careful  reading  of  the 
manuscript,  and  to  my  publishers  for  their  unfailing  kindness 
and  painstaking  care  in  preparing  it  for  the  press. 
November  r,  1920.  H.  E.  F. 


viii  PREFACE 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Special  acknowledgment  is  gladly  made  to  the  following : 
to  EL  P.  Button  &  Company  for  permission  to  use  prayers 
from  "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages";  to  the  Rev. 
Samuel  McComb  and  the  publishers  for  permission  to  quote 
from  "Prayers  for  Today,"  Copyright,  1918,  Harper  & 
Brothers ;  to  the  Pilgrim  Press  for  permission  to  make  selec- 
tions from  "Prayers  of  the  Social  Awakening"  by  Walter 
Rauschenbusch  and  "The  Original  Plymouth  Pulpit"  by  Henry 
Ward  Beecher;  to  Little,  Brown  &  Company  for  permission 
to  quote  one  prayer  from  "Prayers,  Ancient  and  Modern"  by 
Mary  W.  Tileston ;  to  George  H.  Doran  Company  for  per- 
mission to  use  one  prayer  from  "Pulpit  Prayers"  by  Alexander 
Maclaren;  to  Jarrolds  (London)  Ltd.  for  permission  to  make 
quotations  from  "The  Communion  of  Prayer"  by  William 
Boyd  Carpenter,  Bishop  of  Ripon ;  and  to  Longmans,  Green 
&  Company  for  permission  to  quote  from  "Prayers  for  the 
City  of  God,"  by  Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 

None  of  the  above  material  should  be  reprinted  without 
securing  permission. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

PREFACE vii 

I.  SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY i 

II.  THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSNESS 19 

III.  THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK 36 

IV.  THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE 55 

V.  SELF-DENIAL 72 

VI.  JUSTICE 91 

VII.  SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS 108 

VIII.  COOPERATION 1 26 

IX.  NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE 145 

X.  THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE 164 

XI.  THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE 186 

XII.  VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY 204 

SCRIPTURE   PASSAGES   USED   IN  THE   DAILY   READ- 
INGS     222 

SOURCES   OF  PRAYERS  USED  INT   THE  DAILY  READ- 
INGS     223 


CHAPTER  I 

Service  and  Christianity 

DAILY    READINGS 

One  of  the  most  inveterate  and  ruinous  ideas  in  the  history 
of  human  thought  is  that  neither  service  to  man  nor  any  moral 
rightness  whatsoever  is  essential  to  religion.  In  wide  areas  of 
religious  life,  to  satisfy  God  has  been  one  thing,  to  live  in 
righteous  and  helpful  human  relations  has  been  another.  As 
Professor  Rauschenbusch  put  it:  "Religion  in  the  past  has 
always  spent  a  large  proportion  of  its  force  on  doings  that 
were  apart  from  the  real  business  of  life,  on  sacrificing,  on 
endless  prayers,  on  traveling  to  Mecca,  Jerusalem,  or  Rome, 
on  kissing  sacred  stones,  bathing  in  sacred  rivers,  climbing 
sacred  stairs,  and  a  thousand  things  that  had  at  best  only  an 
indirect  bearing  on  the  practical  social  relations  between  men 
and  their  fellows." 

The  conviction  that  a  man  who  is  not  living  in  just  and 
helpful  relations  with  his  fellows  by  no  means  whatever  can 
be  on  right  terms  with  God,  is  one  of  man's  greatest  spiritual 
illuminations,  the  understanding  of  which  cost  long  centuries 
of  slow  and  painful  progress  out  of  darkness  into  light.  Note 
in  the  daily  readings  some  old,  pre-Christian  attitudes  toward 
this  matter.  They  are  still  in  evidence,  for  even  yet  we  have 
on  the  one  side  appalling  human  need,  and  on  the  other  an 
immense  amount  of  religious  motive  power  and  zeal,  which 
are  not  harnessed  to  the  problems  of  human  welfare.  Even  yet 
one  of  mankind's  most  insistent  needs  is  the  interpretation  of 
religion  in  terms  of  service  and  the  attachment  of  religion's 
enormous  driving  power  to  the  tasks  of  service. 

First  Week,  First  Day 

How  much  of  the  latent  moral  energy  of  religious  faith  is 
wasted  because  many  people,  even  yet,  have  only  a  partially 
righteous  God!  We  still  need  to  go  back  for  instruction  to  a 
Hebrew  prophet  like  Micah. 


[1-2]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Wherewith  shall  I  come  before  Jehovah,  and  bow  myself 
before  the  high  God?  shall  I  come  before  him  with  burnt- 
offerings,  with  calves  a  year  old?  will  Jehovah  be  pleased 
with  thousands  of  rams,  or  with  ten  thousands  of  rivers 
of  oil?  shall  I  give  my  first-born  for  my  transgression,  the 
fruit  of  my  body  for  the  sin  of  my  soul?  He  hath  showed 
thee,  O  man,  what  is  good;  and  what  doth  Jehovah  require 

•  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk 

•  humbly  with  thy  God? — Micah  6:  6-8. 

Translate  that  into  modern  terms :  Wherewith  shall  I  come 
before  the  Father  of  Jesus,  and  bow  myself  before  the  God 
who  is  love?  Shall  I  come  before  him  with  gorgeous  cere- 
monies, with  elaborate  rituals?  Will  the  Father  of  all  mercies 
be  pleased  with  thousands  of  repeated  credos  or  with  ten  thou- 
sands of  eloquent  sermons?  Shall  I  give  the  bending  of  the 
knee  for  my  transgression,  the  offering  of  my  purse  for  the 
sin  of  my  soul?  He  hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good; 
and  what  doth  the  Father  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly, 
and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God?  How 
many  of  us  need  such  instruction  yet  in  the  utterly  righteous 
character  of  God,  and  his  demands  on  men !  Raymond  Lull, 
who,  after  a  life  of  splendid  usefulness,  was  stoned  to  death 
by  Muhammadans  in  North  Africa  in  1315,  urging  his  "sweet 
and  reasonable  appeal"  for  Christ,  put  a  primary  truth  into 
worthy  words :  "He  who  would  find  Thee,  O  Lord,  let  him  go 
forth  to  seek  Thee  in  love,  loyalty,  devotion,  faith,  hope,  jus- 
tice, mercy,  and  truth ;  for  in  every  place  where  these  are, 
there  art  Thou." 

O  Father  of  Light  and  God  of  all  Truth,  purge  the  world 
from  all  errors,  abuses,  corruptions,  and  sins.  Beat  down  the 
standard  of  Satan,  and  set  up  everywhere  the  standard  of 
Christ.  Abolish  the  reign  of  sin,  and  establish  the  kingdom  of 
grace  in  all  hearts;  let  humility  triumph  over  pride  and  ambi- 
tion; charity  over  hatred,  envy,  and  malice;  purity  and  temper- 
ance over  lust  and  excess;  meekness  over  passion;  disinterest- 
edness and  poverty  of  spirit  over  covetousness  and  the  love 
of  this  perishable  world.  Let  the  Gospel  of  Christ  in  faith  and 
practice  prevail  throughout  the  world. — French  Coronation 
Order. 

First  Week,  Second  Day 

Another  reason  why  so  much  of  religion's  driving  power 

2 


SERl'ICE  A.\'D  CHRISTIANITY  [1-2] 

is  unharnessed  to  the  tasks  of  service  is  man's  curious  ability 
to  keep  divine  relationships  in  one  compartment  of  life  and 
human  relationships  in  another.  Are  we  yet  beyond  the  reach 
of  Isaiah's  swift  and  terrible  indictment? 

What  unto  me  is  the  multitude  of  your  sacrifices?  saith 
Jehovah:  I  have  had  enough  of  the  burnt-offerings  of 
rams,  and  the  fat  of  fed  beasts;  and  I  delight  not  in  the 
blood  of  bullocks,  or  of  lambs,  or  of  he-goats.  When  ye 
come  to  appear  before  me,  who  hath  required  this  at  your 
hand,  to  trample  my  courts?  Bring  no  more  vain  obla- 
tions; incense  is  an  abomination  unto  me;  new  moon  and 
sabbath,  the  calling  of  assemblies, — I  cannot  away  with 
iniquity  and  the  solemn  meeting.  Your  new  moons  and 
your  appointed  feasts  my  soul  hateth;  they  are  a  trouble 
unto  me;  I  am  weary  of  bearing  them.  And  when  ye 
spread  forth  your  hands,  I  will  hide  mine  eyes  from  you; 
yea,  when  ye  make  many  prayers,  I  will  not  hear:  your 
hands  are  full  of  blood.  Wash  you,  make  you  clean;  put 
away  the  evil  of  your  doings  from  before  mine  eyes;  cease 
to  do  evil;  learn  to  do  well;  seek  justice,  relieve  the  op- 

?ressed,    judge    the    fatherless,    plead    for    the    widow. — 
sa.  i:  11-17. 

Here  are  people  who  are  religious,  but  their  piety  does  not 
involve  goodness,  nor  their  faith  justice,  nor  their  worship 
humaneness.  Their  life  with  God  has  no  connection  with  their 
daily  relationships;  it  does  not  make  them  better  home-folk, 
friends,  neighbors,  or  citizens.  Are  not  plenty  of  such  cases 
in  the  Christian  churches?  How  many  folk  believe  in  God's 
good  purpose  for  mankind  with  the  religious  side  of  their 
minds,  but  never  order  their  practical  ambitions  as  though 
there  were  such  a  purpose  in  the  world !  Or  with  the  religious 
part  of  their  nature  they  believe  that  God  loves  all  men,  while 
with  the  practical  side  they  themselves  neglect,  mistreat,  and 
contemn  men.  We  still  need  the  advice  which  was  given  to 
David  Livingstone  by  an  aged  Scotchman :  "Now,  lad,  make 

I  religion  the  everyday  business  of  your  life,  and  not  a  thing 

'  of  fits  and  starts." 

Lord!  Our  Light  and  our  Salvation,  help  us,  we  beseech 
Thee,  to  enter  into,  and  abide  in,  the  secret  place  of  the  Most 
High;  and  may  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty  be  our  covering 
defense.  Help  each  of  us  to  set  his  love  upon  Thee,  to  bring 
thoughts  and  affections  and  purposes  to  Thyself,  to  think  as 
Thou  dost  teach  us,  to  love  as  Thou  hast  loved  us,  to  do  and 

3 


[1-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

will  as  Thou  dost  command  us.  So  may  we  live  in  union  with 
Thyself,  and  our  word-worship  in  this  place  be  in  harmony 
with  our  consecration  of  life  in  our  daily  work. — Alexander 
Maclaren. 

First  Week,  Third  Day 

Unmoral  religion  such  as  we  are  considering  is  often  caused 
by  a  preoccupying  interest  in  the  subordinate  and  trivial  corol- 
laries of  religion,  its  external  expressions,  its  accidental  accom- 
paniments. Still  the  thunder  of  Amos  is  needed  to  clear 
our  air! 

I  hate,  I  despise  your  feasts,  and  I  will  take  no  delight 
in  your  solemn  assemblies.  Yea,  though  ye  offer  me  your 
burnt-offerings  and  meal-offerings,  I  will  not  accept  them; 
neither  will  I  regard  the  peace-offerings  of  your  fat  beasts. 
Take  thou  away  from  me  the  noise  of  thy  songs ;  for  I  will 
not  hear  the  melody  of  thy  viols.  But  let  justice  roll  down 
as  waters,  and  righteousness  as  a  mighty  stream. — 
Amos  5:  21-24. 

How  impatiently  the  prophet  contrasts  the  etiquette  of  reli- 
gious ritual  with  the  importance  of  human  justice!  Many  a 
man  needs  so  to  take  his  religion  out  of  doors  from  the  suffo- 
cating narrowness  of  small  rubrics  and  petty  rules,  and  to  see 
it  in  terms  not  of  "mint  and  anise  and  cummin,"  but  of  "jus- 
tice and  mercy  and  faith."  Quentin  Hogg  poured  out  his  life 
in  Christian  service  for  the  poor  boys  of  London.  In  a  letter 
to  one  of  the  reclaimed  lads,  he  wrote:  "I  do  not  care  a  rush 
what  denomination  you  belong  to,  I  do  not  very  much  care 
what  special  creed  you  profess,  but  I  do  care  beyond  all  expres- 
sion that  the  result  of  that  creed  in  your  daily  life  should  be 
to  make  you  a  power  for  good  amongst  your  fellowmen.  .  .  . 
We  hear  much  talk  about  creeds,  professions  of  faith  and  the 
like ;  but  I  want  you  to  remember  that  when  God  started  to 
write  a  creed  for  us,  He  did  it,  not  in  words  that  might  change 
their  meaning,  but  He  set  before  us  a  life,  as  though  to  teach 
us  that  whereas  theology  was  a  science  which  could  be  argued 
about,  religion  was  a  life  and  could  only  be  lived." 

Guide  me,  teach  me,  strengthen  me,  till  I  become  such  a  per- 
son as  Thou  wouldst  have  me  be;  pure  and  gentle,  truthful 
and  high-minded,  brave  and  able,  courteous  and  generous,  duti- 
ful and  useful. — Charles  Kingsley. 

4 


SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [I-4] 

First  Week,  Fourth  Day 

Still  another  familiar  source  of  a  religious  life  divorced 
from  practical  goodness  and  daily  usefulness  is  the  segregation 
of  the  Church,  setting  it  apart  from  life,  as  though  God  dwelt 
in  a  temple  instead  of  living  in  the  struggles  of  humanity. 
So,  of  old  time,  Hosea  cried : 

O  Ephraim,  what  shall  I  do  unto  thee?  O  Judah,  what 
shall  I  do  unto  thee?  for  your  goodness  is  as  a  morning 
cloud,  and  as  the  dew  that  goeth  early  away.  Therefore 
have  I  hewed  them  by  the  prophets;  I  have  slain  them  by 
the  words  of  my  mouth:  and  thy  judgments  are  as  the 
light  that  goeth  forth.  For  I  desire  goodness,  and  not 
sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of  God  more  than  burnt- 
offerings. — Hos.  6:4-6. 

When  the  Master,  for  service's  sake,  ate  with  the  cere- 
monially unclean  (Matt.  9:13)  and  again  when  for  human 
helpfulness  he  transgressed  the  Sabbath  rules  (Matt.  12:7), 
and  in  both  cases  was  denounced  as  an  enemy  of  God,  he 
fell  back  upon  this  passage  from  Hosea :  "Go  ye  and  learn 
what  this  meaneth,  I  desire  mercy  and  not  sacrifice."  He  felt 
as  General  Booth  did,  of  whom  it  was  said  that,  in  comparison 
with  the  importance  of  helping  men,  "every  canon  of  society 
appeared  in  his  eyes  as  the  trivial  and  pitiful  etiquette  of  a 
child's  doll's  house."  The  Master  could  not  patiently  see  his 
Father  treated  as  old  fire-worshipers  might  have  treated 
their  sacred  fire,  keeping  it  aloof  in  their  shrine  and  refusing 
it  to  the  people  to  warm  their  houses,  cook  their  food,  and 
illumine  their  darkness.  For,  in  Jesus'  eyes,  God  was  not 
primarily  in  church ;  God  was  in  the  midst  of  needy,  sinning, 
aspiring,  failing  humanity.  And  religion  was  not  professional 
piety.  As  Henry  Ward  Beecher  said:  "Religion  means  work. 
Religion  means  work  in  a  dirty  world.  Religion  means  peril ; 
blows  given,  but  blows  taken  as  well.  Religion  means  trans- 
formation. The  world  is  to  be  cleaned  by  somebody  and  you 
are  not  called  of  God  if  you  are  ashamed  to  scour  and  scrub." 

Almighty  God,  Fountain  of  Life  and  Light,  who  didst  raise 
up  prophets  in  ancient  times  to  warn  and  instruct,  and  whose 
Son  Jesus  Christ  did  send  abroad  into  the  world  apostles, 
evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers,  we  beseech  Thee  to  raise  up 
in  these  days  an  increasing  jiumber  of  wise  and  faithful  men, 
filled  with  the  old  prophetic  fire  and  apostolic  zeal,  by  whose 

5 


[1-5]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

labours  Thy  Church  may  be  greatly  blessed,  and  Thy  Kingdom 
come  and  Thy  Will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven. — 
John  Hunter. 

First  Week,  Fifth  Day 

Still  another  reason  for  the  great  quantity  of  religious 
motive  power  not  yet  belted  into  human  service  is  defective 
ideas  of  what  is  morally  right.  Religious  zeal  does  not  neces- 
sarily argue  ethical  enlightenment.  We  are  shocked  to  read 
of  an  ancient  temple  in  Mexico,  surrounded  by  136,000  human 
skulls  symmetrically  piled ;  we  wince  at  the  thought  of  serving 
God,  as  some  cults  do,  by  murder  and  prostitution.  But  one 
need  only  read  the  prophets  to  see  what  a  struggle  it  cost 
to  be  rid  of  such  abominations  in  our  own  religious  heritage. 
Are  we  yet  rid  of  the  heavy  incubus  of  ethical  blindness  on 
religious  life?  Is  "zeal  without  knowledge"  a  past  problem? 
Rather  Jeremiah  might  still  hurl  his  invective  at  Christendom : 

Thus  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts,  the  God  of  Israel,  Amend 
your  ways  and  your  doings,  and  I  will  cause  you  to  dwell 
in  this  place.  Trust  ye  not  in  lying  words,  saying,  The 
temple  of  Jehovah,  the  temple  of  Jehovah,  the  temple  of 
Jehovah,  are  these.  For  if  ye  thoroughly  amend  your 
ways  and  your  doings;  if  ye  thoroughly  execute  justice 
between  a  man  and  his  neighbor;  if  ye  oppress  not  the 
sojourner,  the  fatherless,  and  the  widow,  and  shed  not 
innocent  blood  in  this  place,  neither  walk  after  other  gods 
to  your  own  hurt:  then  will  I  cause  you  to  dwell  in  this 
place,  in  the  land  that  I  gave  to  your  fathers,  from  of  old 
even  for  evermore. 

Behold,  ye  trust  in  lying  words,  that  cannot  profit.  Will 
ye  steal,  murder,  and  commit  adultery,  and  swear  falsely, 
and  burn  incense  unto  Baal,  and  walk  after  other  gods 
that  ye  have  not  known,  and  come  and  stand  before  me  in 
this  house,  which  is  called  by  my  name,  and  say,  We  are 
delivered;  that  ye  may  do  all  these  abominations?  Is  this 
house,  which  is  called  by  my  name,  become  a  den  of  rob- 
bers in  your  eyes?  Behold,  I,  even  I,  have  seen  it,  saith 
Jehovah. — Jer.  7:3-11. 

Here  were  people  who  were  zealous  in  their  religious  life. 
Feel  the  ardent  intensity  with  which  they  cry  up  "the  Temple." 
But  they  had  not  learned  that  simple  lesson  which  Sir  Wilfred 
Grenfell,  from  his  practical  service  on  the  Labrador  Coast, 
has  put  into  wholesome  words :  "Whether  we,  our  neighbor, 

6 


SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [1-6] 

or  God  is  the  judge,  absolutely  the  only  value  of  our  'reli-i 
gious'  life  to  ourselves  or  to  anyone  is  what  it  fits  us  for  and ! 
enables  us  to  do." 

My  Father  and  My  God  .  .  .  let  the  fire  of  Thy  love  consume 
the  false  shozvs  wlicrewith  my  weaker  self  has  deceived  me. 
Make  me  real  as  Thou  art  real.    Inspire  me  with  a  passion  for 
righteousness  and  likeness  to  the  Man  of  Nazareth,  that  I  may\ 
love  as  He  loved,  and  find  my  joy  as  He  found  His  joy  in] 
being  and  doing  good.    Dwell  Thou  within  me  to  give  me  His 
courage,  His  tenderness,  His  simplicity,  to  transform  my  own 
poor  shadow-self  into  the  likeness  of  His  truth  and  strength. 
Amen. — Samuel  McComb. 

First  Week,  Sixth  Day 

And  as  for  thee,  son  of  man,  the  children  of  thy  people 
talk  of  thee  by  the  walls  and  in  the  doors  of  the  houses, 
and  speak  one  to  another,  every  one  to  his  brother,  saying, 
Come,  I  pray  you,  and  hear  what  is  the  word  that  cometh 
forth  from  Jehovah.  And  they  come  unto  thee  as  the 
people  cometh,  and  they  sit  before  thee  as  my  people,  and 
they  hear  thy  words,  but  do  them  not;  for  with  their, 
mouth  they  show  much  love,  but  their  heart  goeth  after 
their  gain.  And,  lo,  thou  art  unto  them  as  a  very  lovely 
song  of  one  that  hath  a  pleasant  voice,  and  can  play  well 
on  an  instrument;  for  they  hear  thy  words,  but  they  do 
them  not. — Ezek.  33:30-32. 

Ezekiel  here  has  run  upon  unmoral  religion  in  a  common 
form.  See  how  amiable  the  spirit  of  these  people  was,  how 
ingratiating  their  manners,  how  ready  their  responsiveness ! 
They  loved  to  hear  about  God's  will,  but  they  did  not  do  it. 
So  aspen  leaves,  tremulous,  sensitive,  quivering,  sway  with 
agitated  responsiveness  in  every  breath  of  wind.  Endlessly 
stirring,  the  night  finds  them  just  where  they  were  in  the 
morning.  They  move  continuously  but  they  move  nowhere. 
Many  a  man's  religion  is  emotional  responsiveness  without 
practical  issue.  He  substitutes  delight  in  hearing  the  Gospel 
for  diligence  in  living  it.  He  does  not  see  that  religion  is;] 
"action,  not  diction." 

From  infirmity  of  purpose,  from  want  of  earnest  care  and 
interest,  from  the  sluggishness  of  indolence,  and  the  slackness 
of  indifference,  and  from  all  spiritual  deadness  of  heart,  save 
us  and  help  us,  we  humbly  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord. 

7 


[1-7]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

From  dullness  of  conscience,  from  feeble  sense  of  duty,  from 
thoughtless  disregard  of , others,  from  a  low  ideal  of  the  obli- 
gations of  our  position,  and  from  all  half-heartedness  in  our 
work,  save  us  and  help  us,  we  humbly  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord. 
— Bishop  Ridding. 

First  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for 
ye  compass  sea  and  land  to  make  one  proselyte;  and  when 
he  is  become  so,  ye  make  him  twofold  more  a  son  of  hell 
than  yourselves. 

Woe  unto  you,  ye  blind  guides,  that  say,  Whosoever 
shall  swear  by  the  temple,  it  is  nothing;  but  whosoever 
shall  swear  by  the  gold  of  the  temple,  he  is  a  debtor.  Ye 
fools  and  blind:  for  which  is  greater,  the  gold,  or  the 
temple  that  hath  sanctified  the  gold?  And,  Whosoever 
shall  swear  by  the  altar,  it  is  nothing;  but  whosoever  shall 
swear  by  the  gift  that  is  upon  it,  he  is  a  debtor.  Ye  blind: 
for  which  is  greater,  the  gift,  or  the  altar  that  sanctifieth 
the  gift?  .  .  . 

Woe  unto  you,  scribes  and  Pharisees,  hypocrites!  for 
ye  tithe  mint  and  anise  and  cummin,  and  have  left  undone 
the  weightier  matters  of  the  law,  justice,  and  mercy,  and 
faith:  but  these  ye  ought  to  have  done,  and  not  to  have 
left  the  other  undone.  Ye  blind  guides,  that  strain  out 
the  gnat,  and  swallow  the  camel! — Matt.  23: 15-19,  23,  24. 

The  greatest  single  contribution  of  the  Hebrew  prophets 
to  human  thought  was  their  vision  of  the  righteous  nature  of 
God  and  of  his  demands  on  men.  Their  supreme  abhorrence 
was  unmoral  religion.  In  all  our  study  we  shall  see  the 
Master  sharing  their  conviction,  elevating  it  to  heights  they 
never  dreamed,  stating  it  in  terms  that  flash  and  pierce  and 
burn  as  theirs  could  not.  The  Master,  too,  hated  unmoral 
religion.  He  pilloried  the  Pharisees  in  everlasting  scorn. 
Their  pettiness,  their  quibbling,  their  false  emphases,  their 
bigotry,  their  uncharitableness,  their  lack  of  forthright  hon- 
esty, aroused  his  indignation.  Their  religion  made  them 
worse,  not  better ;  one  feels  that  they  would  have  been  im- 
proved without  it ;  their  religion  was  the  most  unlovely 
thing  about  them.  What  should  have  made  them  large  had 
made  them  little ;  what  should  have  made  them  generous  had 
made  them  mean.  But  to  the  Master  religion  meant  gracious- 
ness  and  magnanimity,  self-forgetfulness  and  self-denial,  high 

8 


SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [I-c] 

purpose  and  deep  joy  in  ministry,  boundless  brotherhood  and; 
a  love  balked  by  no  ingratitude  or  sin.  The  heights  of  his 
faith  in  God  conspired  to  send  service  pouring  down  to  men 
in  inexhaustible  good  will.  He  was  sure  that  the  good  God 
can  be  content  with  nothing  less  than  goodness  in  his  children, 
and  that  the  crown  of  goodness  is  a  positive  life  of  outgoing 
service  to  all  mankind. 

O  Lord,  grant  to  me  so  to  love  Thee,  with  all  my  heart, 
with  all  my  mind,  and  with  all  my  soul,  and  my  neighbor  for 
Thy  sake,  that  the  grace  of  charity  and  brotherly  love  may 
dwell  in  me,  and  all  envy,  harshness,  and  ill  will  may  die  in 
me;  and  fill  my  heart  with  feelings  of  love,  kindness,  and  com- 
passion, so  that,  by  constantly  rejoicing  in  the  happiness  and 
good  success  of  others,  by  sympathising  with  them  in  their 
sorrows,  and  putting  away  all  harsh  judgments  and  envious 
thoughts,  I  may  follow  Thee,  who  art  Thyself  the  true  and 
perfect  Love.  Amen. 

COMMENT    FOR   THE    WEEK 
I 

No  one  can  doubt  the  central  place  which  service  held  in  the 
life  and  teaching  of  the  Master.  Consider  the  parable  of  the 
good  Samaritan  (Luke  10:30-37),  or  that  other  more  solemn 
utterance,  where  the  standing  of  the  dead  before  the  throne  of 
God  depended  on  whether  they  had  fed  the  hungry,  clothed 
the  naked,  given  drink  to  the  thirsty,  and  visited  the  impris- 
oned and  sick  (Matt.  25:31-46).  Consider  his  sayings, 
sparks  from  the  anvil  where  he  hammered  out  the  purpose  of 
his  life:  "The  Son  of  man  came  not  to  be  ministered  unto, 
but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his  life  a  ransom  for  many" 
( Matt.  20 :  28)  ;  "He  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your 
servant"  (Matt.  23:11);  "I  am  in  the  midst  of  you  as  he 
that  serveth"  (Luke  22:27).  Consider  even  more  his  life 
itself.  In  devoted  love  to  individuals,  so  that,  with  the  whole 
Kingdom  of  God  upon  his  heart,  he  yet  poured  out  his  care 
on  a  blind  Bartimeus,  or  a  discouraged  prodigal,  or  an  evilly 
entreated  widow  crying  for  her  rights ;  in  the  revealing  of 
great  truths  that  bless  and  redeem  human  life;  in  the  starting 
of  a  movement  that  with  all  its  faults  has  flowed  like  a  river 
down  from  Nazareth  to  revive  man's  character ;  in  the  pos- 


[I-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

session  of  a  radiant  spirit  that  throws  out  light  on  every  side 
as  naturally  as  the  sun  shines,  so  that  his  very  personality  has 
been  man's  greatest  benediction;  in  that  ultimate  test  of  serv- 
ice, vicarious  sacrifice,  that  gives  up  life  itself  for  the  sake  of 
others ;  everywhere  one  sees  that  the  characteristic  expression 
of  the  Master's  spirit  was  ministry.  Nor  was  this  ministry 
expended  first  upon  the  amiable  and  the  great.  Who  can  read 
Rabindranath  Tagore's  lines  and  not  think  of  Jesus? 

"Here  is  thy  footstool  and  there  rest  thy  feet  where  live  the 
poorest  and  lowliest  and  lost. 

When  I  try  to  bow  to  thee,  my  obeisance  cannot  reach  down 
to  the  depth  where  thy  feet  rest  among  the  poorest  and 
lowliest  and  lost. 

Pride  can  never  approach  to  where  thou  walkest  in  the 
clothes  of  the  humble  among  the  poorest  and  lowliest 
and  lost. 

My  heart  can  never  find  its  way  to  where  thou  keepest  com- 
pany with  the  companionless  among  the  poorest,  the  low- 
liest, and  the  lost." 

Surely  there  is  little  use  in  any  man's  calling  himself  the  dis- 
ciple of  such  a  Master  if  he  does  not  possess  the  spirit  and 
know  the  meaning  of  service. 

It  is  evident,  however,  that  plenty  of  professed  Christians 
have  not  interpreted  their  religion  in  such  terms  as  these. 
Consider  those  social  evils — war,  poverty,  disease,  ignorance, 
vice — the  endless  tragedy  of  which  is  the  commonplace  of  the 
modern  world !  One  sees  that,  with  one  third  of  the  popula- 
tion of  the  globe  nominally  Christian,  there  must  have  been 
some  misunderstanding  as  to  what  Christianity  is  all  about  to 
allow  so  many  professed  disciples  of  Jesus  to  live  side  by  side 
for  so  long  a  time  with  such  dire  need.  Christianity  has  been 
content,  in  wide  areas  of  its  life,  with  some  other  interpreta- 
tion of  its  own  meaning  than  that  which  at  first  kindled  the 
passion  for  service  in  the  hearts  of  its  disciples  and  sent  them 
out  from  the  shadow  of  the  Cross,  the  spirit  of  the  Cross 
within  them.  "I  promise  you,"  cried  Hugh  Latimer,  preaching 
in  Cambridge  in  1529,  "if  you  build  one  hundred  churches, 
give  as  much  as  you  can  make  to  gilding  of  saints  and  hon- 
ouring of  the  Church ;  and  if  thou  go  on  as  many  pilgrimages 
as  thy  body  can  well  suffer  and  offer  as  great  candles  as  oaks ; 
if  thou  leave  the  works  of  mercy  and  the  commandments 
undone,  these  works  shall  nothing  avail  thee.  ...  If  you  list 

10 


SERl'ICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [I-c] 

to  gild  and  paint  Christ  in  your  churches  and  honour  Him  in 
vestments,  see  that  before  your  eyes  the  poor  people  die  not 
for  lack  of  meat,  drink,  and  clothing."  One  catches  there  the 
authentic  accent  of  the  Christian  spirit.  Surely  our  world 
would  be  a  far  more  decent  and  fraternal  place  if  such  an 
interpretation  of  the  will  of  Christ  in  terms  of  practical  serv- 
ice had  been  deeply  apprehended  and  faithfully  obeyed  by  the 
great  body  of  his  professed  disciples. 

At  the  beginning  of  our  study,  therefore,  we  well  may  exam- 
ine some  of  the  partial  and  perverted  ways  in  which  we  Chris- 
tians are  tempted  to  misconceive  our  faith  and  so  to  mistake 
the  message  of  the  Master. 

II 

For  one  thing,  Christianity  to  many  people  who  profess  it  is 
no  more  than  a  formality.  It  is  one  of  life's  decent  conventions. 
They  were  taught  it  in  youth;  they  have  never  doubted  its 
theoretical  validity ;  they  perceive  that  its  profession  is  a  mark 
of  respectability;  and  they  would  no  more  be  thought  atheists 
than  anarchists.  But  Christ's  love  for  all  sorts  and  conditions 
of  men  has  never  become  the  daily  motive  of  their  lives,  and 
Christ's  sacrificial  faith  in  the  possibility  of  a  redeemed  earth 
has  never  captured  their  imagination  and  their  purpose. 

The  story  of  the  religious  experience  of  too  many  folk  runs 
like  this :  they  take  the  heavy  lumber  of  their  lives  and  build 
the  secular  dwelling  in  which  habitually  they  abide ;  there  they 
live  and  move  and  have  their  being  in  family  and  social  life, 
in  business  and  politics  and  sports ;  but  because  religion  is  a 
part  of  every  conventionally  well-furnished  life  they  build  as 
well,  with  what  lumber  may  remain,  an  appended  shrine,  and 
there  at  times  they  slip  away  and  pay  their  respects  to  the 
Almighty.  Their  religion  is  an  isolated  and  uninfluential 
afterthought.  Especially  on  Sundays  when  the  banks  are 
shut,  the  shops  are  closed,  the  rush  of  life  is  still,  and  finer 
forces  stir  within  them,  they  go  in  company  with  their  fellows 
to  the  church  for  formal  worship.  And  when  it  is  over  they 
close  the  door  on  that  experience  and  go  back  to  their  ordi- 
nary life  again.  So  Bliss  Carman  sings : 

"They're  praising  God  on  Sunday. 
They'll  be  all  right  on  Monday. 
It's  just  a  little  habit  they've  acquired." 


[I-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

When,  in  the  midst  of  their  customary  lives,  this  isolated  reli- 
gious experience  rises  in  their  memory,  it  seems  vague,  unreal, 
like  a  sonata  of  Beethoven  hea'rd  long  ago  or  a  poem  once 
listened  to  and  half  remembered.  They  recall  it  as  one  thinks 
of  his  summer  home  beside  the  sea,  when  in  the  galloping  tur- 
moil of  the  city  a  chance  recollection  strays  to  it.  It  is  a  long 
way  off  in  another  kind  of  world. 

So  flying  fish  live  in  the  sea ;  that  is  their  native  and  habitual 
realm,  but  once  in  a  while  they  make  a  brief  excursion  into  the 
upper  air  and  glisten  for  an  instant  in  the  sun — only  to  fall 
back  into  the  sea  again.  To  how  many  people  is  religion  such 
a  brief,  occasional  experience!  And  yet  they  call  themselves 
disciples  of  him  whose  heart  beat  with  an  unintermittent  pas- 
sion to  help  people,  whose  God  was  love,  whose  worship  was 
daily  service,  whose  hope  was  the  Kingdom,  whose  instrument 
was  the  Cross.  They  are  not  really  Christians.  They  are  fly- 
ing fish.  For  true  discipleship  to  Jesus  is  the  opposite  of  spas- 
modic conventionality.  We  are  even  wrong  when  we  call  our 
public  worship  on  Sunday  "church  service."  Church  service 
really  begins  on  Monday  morning  at  seven  o'clock  and  lasts 
iall  the  week.  Church  service  is  helpfulness  to  people;  public 
'worship  is  preparation  for  it.  For  the  church  service  which 
the  Master  illustrated  and  approved  is  a  life  of  ministry  amid 
the  dust  and  din  of  daily  business  in  a  sacrificial  conflict  for 
a  Christian  world. 

Ill 

The  obscuring  of  practical  service  as  the  indispensable  ex- 
pression of  the  Christian  Gospel  is  effected  in  many  folk,  not 
by  thus  making  religion  a  listless  and  spasmodic  formality  but 
by  stressing,  often  with  heated  earnestness,  all  sorts  of  trivial 
accompaniments  of  religion  that  do  not  really  matter.  So  an 
English  lord  complained  that  the  severest  blow  religion  ever 
had  received  was  the  loss  of  the  bishops'  wigs ! 

Historic  Christianity  is  like  a  river  that  carries  with  it  not 
only  its  own  pure  water  but  all  manner  of  debris  as  well,  silt 
from  its  own  bottom,  logs  from  its  banks,  flotsam  from  its 
tributaries.  At  last  these  accumulations  that  came  from  the 
river  block  the  river ;  the  rising  water  frets  against  the  impedi- 
ments that  once  expressed  its  life;  and  the  river  has  to  burst 
a  new  course  through  them  and  toss  them  impatiently  aside. 
Such  was  the  work  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  amid  the  religious 

12 


SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  [I-c] 

trivialities  of  their  day  and  such  the  conflict  of  the  Master 
with  quibbling  minds  that  tithed  "mint  and  anise  and  cummin," 
and  neglected  "the  weightier  matters  of  the  law." 

Even  yet  when  men  say  "Christianity"  they  often  mean  not 
so  much  the  pure  spirit  at  the  heart  of  it  as  all  the  clutter  col- 
lected on  its  way.  But  the  World  War  through  which  we  have 
lived  has  made  multitudes  discriminate.  It  is  clear  that  some 
things  in  so-called  Christianity  matter  very  much  and  some 
things  do  not  count  at  all.  Too  often  Christianity  becomes 
like  a  city's  streets  where  all  forms  of  traffic,  big  and  little, 
jostle  each  other  upon  equal  terms.  The  gutter-snipe  and  the 
merchant,  the  pushcart  and  the  limousine,  all  have  their  rights, 
and  in  the  fusion  of  them  discrimination  lapses  and  the  streets 
are  cluttered  and  confused.  Then  fire  breaks  out,  and  the 
whole  street  from  end  to  end  is  cleared  to  let  the  engines  by.. 
When  disaster  comes  the  main  business  must  be  giveni 
gangway. 

Such  an  effect  the  Great  War  has  had  on  men's  thoughts  of 
Christianity.  They  see  that  some  things  once  deemed  impor- 
tant are  of  small  account.  Denominational  distinctions  in 
Protestantism,  for  the  most  part,  do  not  matter.  A  man  whtf 
becomes  excited  about  them  in  such  a  day  as  this  is  an  anach- 
ronism. Old  questions  of  biblical  criticism  that  were  once  dis- 
cussed as  though  men's  very  lives  depended  upon  them,  do  not 
crucially  matter.  A  man  who  becomes  vexed  and  quarrelsome 
about  such  questions  today  is  hopelessly  belated.  He  has  an 
ante-bellum  mind.  Many  questions  in  theology  that  have 
vexed  human  hearts  and  have  furnished  basis  for  heresy  trials 
do  not  matter.  They  may  have  a  place  upon  the  side  streets  of 
Christian  thinking,  but  they  ought  to  be  kept  from  littering  up 
the  avenues.  For  there  is  one  thing  that  'does  matter.  There 
is  nothing  on  earth  that  begins  to  matter  so  much.  Can  Jesus 
Christ,  his  faith  and  principles,  be  made  regnant  on  this  earth? 
Can  we  get  men  to  believe  vitally  in  him  and  in  the  truths  he 
represents  and  to  join  the  great  crusade  to  make  over  this 
shattered  world  upon  the  basis  of  his  ideals?  Can  lives  now 
battered  and  broken  by  misfortune  and  by  sin  be  reclaimed, 
and  can  our  social  life,  its  business,  its  statecraft,  its  interna- 
tional relationships  be  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  men's 
minds  until  they  shall  be  truly  Christian  ?  In  comparison  with 
that,  nothing  else  matters. 

In  the  presence  of  such  a  cause,  for  a  man  to  have  a  sec- 
13 


[I-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

tarian  mind,  to  ride  theological  hobbies,  to  be  obsessed  with 
favorite  fashions  in  religious  phylacteries,  is  to  miss  the  main 
issue  of  the  Gospel.  One  who,  like  General  Booth,  founder  of 
the  Salvation  Army,  knows  thoroughly  and  feels  deeply  the 
physical,  moral,  and  spiritual  desolation  of  millions  who  live 
under  the  very  shadow  of  our  church  spires,  feels  also  with 
impatience  the  frivolous  futility  of  much  popular  religion.  "It 
is  no  better  than  a  ghastly  mockery,"  he  says,  "to  call  by  the 
name  of  One,  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  was 
lost,  those  churches  which,  in  the  midst  of  lost  multitudes, 
either  sleep  in  apathy  or  display  a  fitful  interest  in  a  chasuble. 
Why  all  this  apparatus  of  temples,  of  meeting  houses,  to  save 
men  from  perdition  in  a  world  which  is  to  come,  while  never 
a  helping  hand  is  stretched  out  to  save  them  from  the  inferno 
of  their  present  life?  Is  it  not  time  that,  forgetting  for  a 
moment  their  wrangling  about  the  infinitely  little  and  the  infi- 
nitely obscure,  they  should  concentrate  all  their  energies  on  a 
united  effort  to  break  this  terrible  perpetuity  of  perdition  and 
to  rescue  some  at  'least  of  those  for  whom  they  profess  to 
.believe  their  Founder  came  to  die?" 


IV 

Of  all  the  reasons  why  Christian  people  miss  the  indis- 
pensable fruit  of  real  Christianity  in  service  none  is  commoner 
than  this :  religion  can  itself  become  one  of  the  most  selfish 
influences  in  life.  Men  can  accept  religion,  love  it,  cleave  to  it, 
not  from  any  unselfish  motives  whatsoever  but  solely  because 
of  the  inward  peace,  the  quieted  conscience,  and  the  radiant 
hope  which  they  themselves  get'  from  it.  Religion  becomes 
not  a  stimulus  but  a  sedative;  it  is  used  not  as  an  inspiration 
to  service  but  as  a  substitute  for  it.  Mystical  experiences  of 
spiritual  delight ;  a  peaceful  sense  of  being  pardoned  by  God 
and  reconciled  with  him ;  an  emotional  share,  sometimes  sooth- 
ing, sometimes  ecstatic,  in  the  fellowship  of  public  praise;  hope 
of  a  future  heaven — these  blessings  and  others  like  them  men 
get  from  religion.  And  sometimes  these  are  all  that  they  get. 
Religion  reaches  them  only  on  their  receptive  side.  It  is  life's 
supreme  appeal  to  their  selfishness. 

Indeed  the  very  nature,  of  the  Christian  message  lays  us 
open  to  this  special  form  of  failure.  For  Christianity  has  two 
sides.  On  one  side  Christianity  is  the  best  news  to  which 

14 


SERVICE  A\'D  CHRISTIANITY  [I-c] 

human  ears  ever  listened.  The  fatherhood  of  God,  the  savior- 
hood  of  Christ,  the  friendship  of  the  Spirit,  the  victory  of 
righteousness,  the  life  eternal — no  other  message  half  so  exhil- 
arating and  comfortable  has  ever  stirred  the  hearts  of  men. 
It  is  good  to  hear  and  the  New  Testament  bears  abundant 
witness  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel's  proclamation 
a  peril  arose  from  this  very  fact.  The  Good  News  was  so 
good  to  hear  that  even  in  the  first  century  folk  began  the 
pleasant  but  hopeless  endeavor  to  absorb  it  by  hearing  only, 
and  the  New  Testament  keeps  ringing  out  a  warning.  Says 
Jesus :  "Everyone  that  heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and  doeth 
them  not,  shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man,  who  built  his 
house  upon  the  sand"  (Matt.  7:26).  Says  Paul:  "Not  the 
hearers  of  the  law  are  just  before  God  but  the  doers  of  the 
law"  (Rom.  2:  13).  Says  James:  "Be  ye  doers  of  the  word, 
and  not  hearers  only,  deluding  your  own  selves"  (James 
i : 22). 

This  insistence  of  the  New  Testament  on  the  peril  of  a 
facile  and  passive  response  to  the  Gospel  is  no  accident.  It 
springs  warm  and  urgent  frotn  the  New  Testament's  thought 
of  what  the  Gospel  is.  It  is  good  news  to  be  heard,  but  it  is 
something  more ;  it  presents  a  task  to  be  achieved.  It  calls 
for  devoted,  sacrificial  service.  It  has  launched  a  movement 
which  for  breadth  and  depth  of  present  influence  and  for 
latent  power  cannot  be  matched  in  history.  It  has  meant  a 
crusade  to  turn  the  world  upside  down.  Christianity  is  not 
simply  a  message  to  be  heard ;  it  is  a  deed  to  be  done. 

All  the  profoundest  experiences  in  human  life  are  thus  two-,i 
sided,  and  are  complete  only  as  reception  and  action  are  bal- 
anced. The  love  which  makes  a  home  has  two  aspects.  On 
one  side  it  is  romance.  The  poets  sing  about  it  endlessly — the 

"tender  and  extravagant  delight, 
The  first  and  secret  kiss  by  twilight  hedge, 
The  insane  farewell  repeated  o'er  and  o'er." 

But  on  the  other  side  a  complete  love  involves  unselfishness, 
willing  sacrifice,  mutual  forbearance,  absolute  fidelity,  bound- 
less devotion.  In  one  aspect  love  is  all  lure  and  witchery  and 
enchantment;  in  the  other  it  is  loyalty  and  self-denial  and 
fidelity  "till  death  us  do  part."  On  one  side  it  is  responsive- 
ness; on  the  other  it  is  responsibility.  Miserable  bargain 

IS 


[I-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

hunters  in  the  realm  of  spirit  are  those  who  try  to  get  one 
side  without  the  other! 

Christian  history  bears  painful  testimony  to  the  absorbing 
preference  of  multitudes  of  so-called  Christians  for  the  com- 
fortable aspects  of  the  Gospel.  There  never  has  been  any  lack 
of  folk  to  listen  with  ready  receptiveness  to  the  consolations 
of  the  faith.  Religion  made  impressive  in  architecture,  beau- 
tiful in  music,  glorious  in  art,  vocal  in  preaching,  vivid  in  sac- 
rament, has  brought  hope,  cheer,  and  comfort  to  multitudes. 
But  too  often  this  elemental  fact  has  been  forgotten,  that 
every  Christian  truth,  gracious  and  comfortable,  has  a  corre- 
sponding obligation,  searching  and  sacrificial.  Every  doctrine 
has  its  associated  duty,  every  truth  its  task.  On  a  Sunday 
morning,  for  example,  a  congregation  listens  to  a  sermon  on 
the  central  message  of  the  Christian  faith,  God's  love  for 
every  son  of  man.  None  is  so  small  and  so  obscure,  so  lost 
to  general  observation  and  to  private  care,  the  preacher  cries, 
that  God  does  not  think  on  him.  He  loves  us  every  one  as 
though  he  had  no  other  sons  to  love.  It  is  a  glorious  Gospel. 
And  if  the  preacher  be  a  master  of  gripping  phrase  and 
luscious  paragraph,  how  surely  with  such  a  theme  he  will  cast 
a  witching  spell  over  any  audience !  But  such  a  spell,  however 
delectable,  may  be  an  unwholesome  experience.  That  Gospel, 
when  the  Master  first  proclaimed  it,  was  not  intended  pri- 
marily for  preaching;  it  was  intended  for  action.  Do  we  not 
see,  as  he  did,  the  appalling  sin,  the  haggard  want,  the- infuri- 
ating oppression,  which  are  befalling  these  folk,  every  one  of 
whom  God  loves?  If  personality  is  as  sacred  as  that  teaching 
says,  then  there  is  urgent  business  afoot  upon  this  earth  to 
challenge  the  service  of  all  who  believe  the  teaching.  For 
on  every  side  ruin  is  befalling  these  countless  men  and  women 
for  whom  Christ  died  because  he  thought  that  they  were  worth 
dying  for. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  sights  in  the  high  Rockies  is 
"timber  line."  One  mounts  from  the  valleys  where  the 
forests  are  immense  and  bountiful  and  ever  as  he  rises  the 
trees  grow  dwarfed.  At  last  he  comes  to  "timber  line." 
It  is  the  final  frontier  of  the  trees,  the  last  stand  where  they 
have  been  able  to  maintain  themselves  against  the  furious 
tempests  of  the  upper  heights.  Far  above  stretch  the  snow- 
clad  summits,  and  here  are  such  twisted,  stunted,  whipped,  and 
beaten  trees  as  one  could  not  imagine  without  seeing  them. 

16 


SERVICE  AND  CHRISTIANITY  '  [I-c] 

Twenty-eight  rings  were  counted  in  one  courageous  struggler 
there,  two  inches  high.  Twenty-eight  years  of  bitterest  fight- 
ing against  impossible  odds  had  brought  two  inches  of  mis- 
shapen growth  ! 

What  is  this,  however,  in  comparison  with  the  human  timber 
line?  Consider  the  terribly  handicapped  and  beaten  masses 
of  mankind,  whipped  by  poverty,  sickness,  ignorance,  sin.  The 
most  beautiful  religious  poem  of  recent  years,  "The  Hound 
of  Heaven,"  was  written  by  Francis  Thompson.  But  Thomp- 
son, a  few  .years  before  he  wrote  it,  was  a  tatterdemalion 
figure  on  the  streets  of  London,  holding  the  heads  of  strangers' 
horses  to  make  a  few  pence  for  opium  to  drug  himself.  The 
tragedy  there  was  pitiful :  Francis  Thompson  so  outwardly 
circumscribed  and  inwardly  cowed  that  he  could  not  be  Fran- 
cis Thompson  at  all.  In  ways  dramatic  or  obscure  how  com- 
mon that  story  is !  Personality  with  rich  possibilities  in  it  is 
everywhere  nipped  and  stunted,  its  flowers  unopened,  its 
fruit  unborne. 

Only  recently  a  young  man  sailed  from  New  York  City  for 
Liberia.  See  what  amazing  contrasts  that  young  man's  ex- 
perience presents !  When  first  he  comes  upon  our  view,  he  is 
a  naked  savage  nine  years  old,  discovered  by  a  missionary  in 
the  jungle  of  Africa.  His  father  is  a  worshiper  of  demons, 
obsessed  by  witchcraft;  his  mother  is  a  native  of  the  forest; 
his  tribe  is  sunk  in  the  depths  of  barbarism.  He  borrows  a 
bit  of  calico  from  his  mother  for  a  loin  cloth  and  leaves  -his 
home  for  a  Wesleyan  school.  Yet  only  yesterday  that  young 
man,  now  in  his  twenty-ninth  year,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
University  with  high  honors,  a  Christian  of  beautiful  spirit, 
whose  presentation  of  the  cause  of  Liberia  in  Washington, 
so  competent  authorities  report,  was  worthy  of  the  finest  tra- 
ditions of  British  and  American  statesmanship,  sailed  back  to 
Liberia  to  help  his  people.  One  rejoices  in  that  single  experi- 
ence of  personality  released  from  crippling  handicaps.  But 
what  a  woeful  waste  in  multitudes  of  other  lives,  also  capable 
of  fine  expansion,  who  still  are  dwarfs  of  their  real  selves! 

A  sheer  question  of  sincerity  is  raised,  therefore,  if  one 
professes  to  believe  that  all  these  folk,  battered  and  undone, 
are  infinitely  valuable  in  the  sight  of  God.  That  is  not  chiefly 
a  message  to  be  enjoyed.  That  is  chiefly  a  challenge  to  be 
answered  with  self-denying  toil.  The  sacredness  of  person- 
ality is  the  most  disturbing  faith  a  man  can  hold.  We  are 

17 


[I-c]  •  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

wretched  bargain  hunters  in  religion  if  we  try  to  keep  the 
comforts  of  the  Gospel  and  to  avoid  its  sacrifices. 

"No  mystic  voices  from  the  heavens  above 
Now  satisfy  the  souls  which  Christ  confess; 
Their  heavenly  vision  is  in  works  of  love, 
A  new  age  summons  to  new  saintliness. 
Before  th'  uncloistered  shrine  of  human  needs 
And  all  unconscious  of  the  worth  or  price, 

.  They  lay  their  fragrant  gifts  of  gracious  deeds 
Upon  the  altar  of  self-sacrifice."1 

V 

This,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  matter :  the  inevitable 
expression  of  real  Christianity  is  a  life  of  sacrificial  service. 
If  by  making  religion  a  spasmodic  formality,  or  by  centering 
our  thought  upon  its  trivial  corollaries,  or  by  choosing  its  com- 
fortable aspects  and  avoiding  its  self-denials,  we  refuse  this 
characteristic  expression  of  the  Master's  spirit,  we  cannot 
really  have  the  Master's  spirit  at  all.  One  law  of  the  spiritual 
life  from  the  operation  of  which  no  man  can  escape  is  that 
nothing  can  come  into  us  unless  it  can  get  out  of  us.  We 
commonly  suppose  that  study  is  the  road  to  learning.  Upon 
the  contrary,  long-continued  acquisitive  study,  absorbing  infor- 
mation without  expressing  it,  is  the  surest  way  to  paralyze  the 
mind..  He  who  would  be  a  scholar  must  not  only  study  but 
teach,  write,  lecture,  apply  his  knowledge  to  practical  uses. 
Somehow  he  must  give  what  he  gets  or  soon  he  will  get  no 
more.  As  with  a  swamp,  so  with  a  mind,  an  inlet  is  useless 
without  an  outlet,  since  he  who  gets  to  keep  can  in  the  end 
get  nothing  good. 

So  a  man  who  tries  to  assimilate  Christianity  by  impression 
without  expression  can  receive  no  real  Christianity  at  all.  If 
one  stands  perfectly  insulated  on  a  glass  foundation  he  may 
handle  live  wires  with  impunity.  Electricity  may  not  come 
in  where  it  cannot  flow  through.  So  the  Christian  Gospel 
demands  outlet  before  it  can  find  inlet.  The  failure  of  many 
Christians  lies  at  the  point  of  intake ;  they  are  estopped  from 
real  faith  and  prayer ;  they  have  no  vital  contact  with  divine 
realities.  But  the  disaster  of  multitudes  comes  from  a  clut- 
tered outlet.  They  do  not  know  the  meaning  of  service. 

1  Professor  Francis  G.  Peabody. 

18 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Peril  of  Uselessness 

DAILY    READINGS 

Lord  Melbourne  is  reported  to  have  said :  "If  we  are  to  have 
a  religion,  let  us  have  one  that  is  cool  and  indifferent ;  and 
such  a  one  as  we  have  got."  Here  is  a  candid  desire  for  a 
faith  which  does  not  involve  devoted  service,  but  which  makes 
possible  a  life  insipidly  neutral.  Such  a  man  is  not  outra- 
geouslycruel  and  inhuman,  but  he  frankly  accepts  the  ideal  of 
negative  harmlessness.  Let  us  consider  this  week  certain 
familiar  attitudes  which  cause  plenty  of  decent,  not  unamiable 
people,  even  though  they  may  be  religious,  to  accept  for  them- 
selves such  a  colorless,  useless  life. 

Second  Week,  First  Day 

And  he  came  to  Nazareth,  where  he  had  been  brought 
up:  and  he  entered,  as  his  custom  was,  into  the  synagogue 
on  the  sabbath  day,  and  stood  up  to  read.  And  there  was 
delivered  unto  him  the  book  of  the  prophet  Isaiah.  And 
he  opened  the  book,  and  found  the  place  where  it  was 
written, 

The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  upon  me, 
Because  he   anointed  me  to  preach   good  tidings  to  the 

poor: 

He  hath  sent  me  to  proclaim  release  to  the  captives, 
And  recovering  of  sight  to  the  blind, 
To  set  at  liberty  them  that  are  bruised, 
To  proclaim  the  acceptable  year  of  the  Lord. 
And  he  closed  the  book,  and  gave  it  back  to  the  attend- 
ant, and  sat  downi^and  the  eyes  of  all  in  the  synagogue 
were  fastened  on  him.     And  he  began  to  say  unto  them, 
To-day  hath  this  scripture  been  fulfilled  in  your  ears. — 
Luke  4:  16-21. 

When  Jesus  went  to  church  he  thought  about  service.  Serv- 
ice was  the  crux  of  his  whole  spiritual  experience ;  it  was  the 
great  matter  with  which,  in  his  eyes,  public  worship  and  all 

19 


[II-2]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

that  it  represents  were  concerned.  When  he  worshiped  his 
Father,  he  worshiped  One,  who  was  not  willing  "that  one  of 
these  little  ones  should  perish"  (Matt.  18:14);  when  he 
prayed  in  solitude,  he  remembered  friends  like  Peter,  sorely 
tempted  and  needing  help  (Luke  22:31,  32)  ;  when  he  thought 
of  immortality,  he  rejoiced  that  some,  cruelly  handicapped  in 
this  life,  would  have  another  chance  (Luke  16: 19-31)  ;  when 
he  was  transfigured  he  straightway  harnessed  his  refreshed 
power  to  practical  ministry  (Matt.  17:9-18).  His  public  wor- 
ship, his  faith  in  God,  his  private  prayer,  his  eternal  hope,  and 
his  transfigured  hours  all  centered  round  and  issued  in  a  de- 
voted life  of  helpfulness  to  people.  The  first  reason  why 
many  folk  are  content  with  a  "cool  and  indifferent  religion" 
is  that  they  have  missed  utterly  the  meaning  of  the  Master's 
life.  Whatever  their  religion  may  mean  to  them — correctness 
of  formal  belief,  historic  continuity  of  church  establishments, 
exactness  of  ritual,  respectable  conventionality — it  is  not  of 
that  quality  which  causes  them  in  the  church  to  be  thinking, 
as  Jesus  did,  about  the  poor,  the  captive,  the  blind,  and  the 
bruised. 

O  Thou,  who  art  the  Light  of  the  minds  that  know  Thcc, 
the  Life  of  the  souls  that  love  Thee,  and  the  Strength  of  the 
thoughts  that  seek  Thee;  help  us  so  to  know  Thee,  that  we 
may  truly  love  Thee,  so  to  love  Thee  that  we  may  fully  serve 
Thee,  whose  service  is  perfect  freedom;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord,  Amen. — Gelasian  Sacramentary  (A.  D.  494). 

Second  Week,  Second  Day 

Another  reason  for  that  type  of  decent  religion,  which  nev- 
ertheless is  "cool  and  indifferent"  to  human  service,  is  the 
strange  idea  that  God,  like  some  vain  earthly  potentate,  enjoys 
being  praised,  and  that,  therefore,  a  due  amount  of  adoration 
is  highly  gratifying  to  him  and  quite  sufficient  for  us.  But 
consider  the  clear  teaching  of  the  Master: 

If  therefore  thou  art  offering  thy  gift  at  the  altar,  and 
there  rememberest  that  thy  brother  hath  aught  against 
thee,  leave  there  thy  gift  before  the  altar,  and  go  thy  way, 
first  be  reconciled  to  thy  brother,  and  then  come  and  offer 
thy  gift. — Matt.  5 :  23,  24. 

Religion  is  like  patriotism  in  this  respect:  both  of  them  at 
20 


THE  PERIL  OF  VSELESSNESS  [II-3] 

the  beginning  are  emotions  which  we  enjoy.  We  praise  our 
country  in  patriotic  oratory  and  resounding  song,  and  we 
like  it.  But  the  days  come  when  a  man's  country  expects  of 
him  something  more  than  praise.  Patriotism  lays  its  hands  on 
all  the  active,  outgoing,  courageous  elements  in  his  life ;  it 
means  sacrificial  self-denial;  it  may  even  lead  a  man  to 
vicarious  death.  So,  says  Jesus,  does  God  ask  something  far 
more  than  worship.  He  asks  self-sacrificing,  brotherly  rela- 
tions between  men.  God  is  no  fool  to  be  pleased  by  flattery. 
What  does  he  care  for  our  songs,  except  as  our  lives  are  serv- 
ing his  other  children?  "Not  every  one  that  saith  unto  me, 
Lord,  Lord,"  cried  Jesus,  "but  he  that  doeth  the  will  of  my 
Father"  (Matt.  7:21). 

Almighty  and  most  merciful  Father,  who  hast  given  us  a 
new  commandment  that  we  should  love  one  another;  give  us 
also  grace  that  we  may  fulfil  it.  Make  us  gentle,  courteous, 
and  forbearing.  Direct  our  lives,  so  that  we  may  look  each  to 
the  good  of  the  other  in  word  and  deed.  And  hallow  all  our 
friendships  by  the  blessing  of  Thy  Spirit;  for  His  sake  who 
loved  us,  and  gave  Himself  for  us,  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. — Bishop  Westcott  (1825-1901)., 

Second  Week,  Third  Day 

Another  reason  for  a  neutral,  useless  life  among  amiable 
and  decent  people  is  sheer  lack  of  information  about  the  needs 
of  folk  beyond  the  borders  of  our  social  circles. 

And  they  came  to  the  other  side  of  the  sea,  into  the 
country  of  the  Gerasenes.  And  when  he  was  come,  out  of 
the  boat,  straightway  there  met  him  out  of  the  tombs  a 
man  with  an  unclean  spirit,  who  had  his  dwelling  in  the 
tombs:  and  no  man  could  any  more  bind  him,  no,  not  with 
a  chain;  because  that  he  had  been  often  bound  with  fetters 
and  chains,  and  the  chains  had  been  rent  asunder  by  him, 
and  the  fetters  broken  in  pieces:  and  no  man  had  strength 
to  tame  him.  And  always,  night  and  day,  in  the  tombs 
and  in  the  mountains,  he  was  crying  out,  and  cutting  him- 
self with  stones. — Mark  5: 1-5. 

How  many  of  the  people  in  the  neighboring  village  of 
Gadara  knew  of  this  man,  or  had  tried  to  help  him?  But 
Jesus,  by  an  instinctive  sympathy,  never  went  into  any  neigh- 
borhood without  finding  at  once  the  sick,  the  poor,  the  be- 

21 


[1 1-4]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

deviled.  We  live  in  our  secluded  social  circles ;  we  do  not 
know  even  the  maids  in  our  kitchens,  the  workmen  in  our  fac- 
tories, the  bootblacks  and  the  newsboys  who  serve  us.  We 
deal  with  our  fellows  on  a  cash  basis,  not  on  a  basis  of  human 
interest.  And  as  for  the  conditions  of  life  in  the  slums  of  our 
own  communities,  in  the  jails  and  asylums,  among  the  sick,  the 
vicious,  the  homeless,  the  unemployed,  the  mentally  defective, 
how  little  do  many  of  us  know — or  care!  But  imagine  Jesus 
in  one  of  our  communities !  He  would  not  live  in  a  social 
cocoon.  He  would  soon  know  all  the  worst  need  of  the  town. 

O  Lord  God,  arise,  for  the  spoiling  of  the  poor,  for  the 
sighing  of  the  needy;  for  Thou  respectest  not  the  persons  of 
princes  nor  regardest  the  rich  more  than  the  poor.  Give  jus- 
tice to  the  afflicted  and  destitute,  rescue  the  weak,  and  may 
Thy  Kingdom  come  on  earth,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
— Bishop  Vernon  Herford. 

Second  Week,  Fourth  Day 

Jesus  made  answer  and  said,  A  certain  man  was  going 
down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jericho;  and  he  fell  among  rob- 
bers, who  both  stripped  him  and  beat  him,  and  departed, 
leaving'  him  half  dead.  And  by  chance  a  certain  priest 
was  going  down  that  way:  and  when  he  saw  him,  he 
passed  by  on  the  other  side.  And  in  like  manner  a  Levite 
also,  when  he  came  to  the  place,  and  saw  him,  passed  by 
on  the  other  side.  But  a  certain  Samaritan,  as  he  jour- 
neyed, came  where  he  was:  and  when  he  saw  him,  he  was 
moved  with  compassion,  and  came  to  him,  and  bound  up 
his  wounds,  pouring  on  them  oil  and  wine;  and  he  set  him 
on  his  own  beast,  and  brought  him  to  an  inn,  and  took 
care  of  him.  And  on  the  morrow  he  took  out  two  shil- 
lings, and  gave  them  to  the  host,  and  said,  Take  care  of 
him:  and  whatsoever  thou  spendest  more,  I,  when  I  come 
back  again,  will  repay  thee.  Which  of  these  three,  think- 
est  thou,  proved  neighbor  unto  him  that  fell  among  the 
robbers?  And  he  said,  He  that  showed  mercy  on  him. 
And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Go,  and  do  thou  likewise. — 
Luke  10:30-37. 

The  Master  presents  clearly  here  three  familiar  types.  The 
robbers  are  aggressively  destructive,  cruel,  inhuman.  The 
Good  Samaritan  is  aggressively  unselfish.  The  priest  and  the 
Levite  are  neither  one  nor  the  other.  They  did  not  hurt  the 
man;  they  did  not  help  him.  They  refused  to  mix  in  the 

22 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSXESS  [1 1-5] 

unpleasant  affair  at  all.  They  stood  aloof  alike  from  robbery  and 
service.  Preoccupied  about  their  own  affairs,  they  did  not 
wish  to  distract  their  thought,  disarrange  their  schedule,  or 
soil  their  hands  with  this  sorry  business  of  a  wounded  man. 
How  like  they  are  to  many  among  us,  who,  from  mere  dis- 
like of  having  our  ordinary,  comfortable  course  of  life  dis- 
turbed, miss  countless  opportunities  for  usefulness!  Consider 
the  intense  indignation  of  the  Master,  which  this  parable 
reveals,  against  such  a  listless,  apathetic  attitude  toward 
human  need ! 

They  that  are  ensnared  and  entangled  in  the  extreme  penury 
of  things  needful  for  the  body,  cannot  set  their  mind  upon 
Thee,  O  Lord,  as  they  ought  to  do;  but  u'hen  they  be  disap- 
pointed of  the  things  zt'hich  they  so  mightily  desire,  their 
hearts  are  cast  dozvn  and  quail  from  excess  of  grief.  Have 
pity  upon  them,  therefore,  O  merciful  Father,  and  relieve 
their  misery  from  Thine  incredible  riches,  that  by  Thy  remov- 
ing of  their  urgent  necessity,  they  may  rise  up  to  Thee  in 
mind.  Thou,  O  Lord,  providest  enough  for  all  men  u<ith  Thy 
most  liberal  and  bountiful  hand;  but  tvhercas  Thy  gifts  are, 
in  respect  of  Thy  goodness  and  free  favour,  made  free  unto 
all  men,  we  (through  our  haughtiness  and  niggardship  an-d 
distrust)  do  make  them  private  and  peculiar.  Correct  Thou 
the  things  which  our  iniquity  hath  put  out  of  order;  let  Thy 
goodness  supply  that  which  our  niggardliness  hath  plucked 
azt'ay.  Give  Thou  meat  to  the  hungry  and  drink  to  the  thirsty; 
comfort  Thou  the  sorrowful;  cheer  Thou  the  dismayed; 
strengthen  Thou  the  weak;  deliver  Thou  them  that  are  pris- 
oners; and  give  Thou  hope  and  courage  to  them  that  are  out 
of  heart. — Queen  Elizabeth's  Prayer  Book. 

Second  Week,  Fifth  Day 

Still  another  reason  for  a  listlessly  useless  life  is  that  folk 
content  themselves  zvith  meditating  on  the  fact  that  they  are 
not  doing  any  harm. 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth:  but  if  the  salt  have  lost 
its  savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?  it  is  thenceforth 
good  for  nothing,  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under 
foot  of  men. — Matt.  5: 13. 

Salt  is  good:  but  if  the  salt  have  lost  its  saltness,  where- 
with will  ye  season  it? — Mark  9:50. 

23 


[II-6]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

In  view  of  this  familiar  condemnation,  consider  what  evil 
in  denatured  salt  can  so  deserve  the  Master's  disapproval. 
What  harm  does  it  do?  It  is  not  poison  that  one  should  dread 
it.  It  is  a  neutral,  harmless  thing,  by  which  no  ruin  is  brought 
on  anyone.  Yet  to  this  homely  example  of  savorless  salt  the 
Master  turned  for  the  picture  of  a  kind  of  life  which  seemed 
to  him  intolerable.  Poor  Richard's  Almanac  contains  this 
sentiment :  "The  noblest  question  in  the  world  is,  What  good 
can  I  do  in-  it?"  That  is  a  test  on  which  the  Master  insisted. 
When,  therefore,  any  man  contents  himself  with  asking  of 
his  empty  life,  What  harm  do  I  do  ?  he  may  expect  the  scath- 
ing rebuke  of  Jesus.  Such  self-satisfied  negativeness,  in  his 
eyes,  reduced  the  glorious  possibilities  of  useful  manhood  to 
insipidity.  He  could  no  more  endure  denatured  personality 
than  denatured  salt. 

internal  God,  who  committest  to  us  the  swift  and  solemn 
trust  of  life ;  since  we  know  not  what  a  day  may  bring  forth, 
but  only  that  the  hour  for  serving  Thee  is  ahvays  present, 
may  we  wake  to  the  instant  claims  of  Thy  Holy  Will;  not 
waiting  for  tomorrow,  but  yielding  today.  Lay  to  rest,  by  the 
persuasion  of  Thy  Spirit,  the  resistance  of  our  passion,  indo- 
lence, or  fear.  Consecrate  with  Thy  presence  the  way  our 
feet  may  go;  and  the  humblest  work  will  shine,  and  the  rough- 
est places  be  made  plain.  Lift  us  above  unrighteous  anger 
and  mistrust  into  faith  and  hope  and  charity  by  a  simple  and 
steadfast  reliance  on  Thy  sure  will.  In  all  things  draw  us  to 
the  mind  of  Christ,  that  Thy  lost  image  may  be  traced  again, 
and  Thou  mayest  own  us  as  at  one  with  Him  and  Thee. 
Amen. — James  Martineau. 

Second  Week,  Sixth  Day 

But  the  unclean  spirit,  when  he  is  gone  out  of  the  man, 
passeth  through  waterless  places,  seeking  rest,  and  findeth 
it  not.  Then  he  saith,  I  will  return  into  my  house  whence 
I  came  out;  and  when  he  is  come,  he  findeth  it  empty, 
swept,  and  garnished.  Then  goeth  he,  and  taketh  with 
himself  seven  other  spirits  more  evil  than  himself,  and 
they  enter  in  and  dwell  there:  and  the  last  state  of  that 
man  becometh  worse  than  the  first. — Matt.  12:43-45. 

The  Master,  illustrating  a  familiar  experience,  uses  the 
popular  ideas  of  his  time  with  regard  to  the  activity  of  demons. 

24 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSXESS  [II-/I 

A  man  succeeds  in  expelling  from  his  life  some  cruel  temper, 
selfish  passion,  mean  animosity;  he  rejoices  in  a  heart  "empty, 
swept,  and  garnished."  What  he  rejoices  in,  however,  the 
Master  heartily  condemns.  He  cannot  tolerate  an  empty  life. 
Many  people  suppose  that  to  be  a  Christian  is  thus  a  suppres- 
sion of  their  instincts,  a  banishment  of  their  impulses,  a  pro- 
hibition of  their  natural  powers.  Their  whole  ideal  is  negative. 
Consider,  however,  Henry  Ward  Beecher's  description  of 
Paul :  "He  was  a  man  of  immense  conscience,  immense 
pride,  and  immense  combativeness.  He  was  converted.  His 
conscience  did  not  diminish,  his  pride  did  not  shrink,  his 
combativeness  did  not  flow  out.  All  those  great  elements 
remained  in  him.  Before  he  was  converted,  his  conscience 
worked  with  malign  feelings.  Afterwards,  his  conscience 
worked  with  benevolent  feelings.  Before  he  was  converted,  his 
pride  worked  for  selfishness.  After  he  was  converted, 
his  pride  worked  for  benevolence.  Before  he  was  converted, 
his  combativeness  worked  for  cruelty.  After  he  was  con- 
verted, it  worked  for  zeal."  A  merely  empty  life  always  ends, 
as  Jesus  said,  by  being  seven  times  more  bedeviled  than  it  was 
at  first.  But  a  thorough  Christian  is  a  man  with  all  his  active 
powers  awake,  well  harnessed,  and  at  work. 

O  Lord  God  of  hosts,  who  maketh  the  frail  children  of 
men  to  be  Thy  glad  soldiers  in  the  conquest  of  sin  and  misery, 
breathe  Thy  Spirit,  we  pray  Thee,  into  the  students  of  this 
country  and  of  all  lands,  that  they  may  come  together  in  faith 
and  fellowship,  and  stand  up  an  exceeding  great  army  for  the 
deliverance  of  the  oppressed  and  for  the  triumph  of  Thy  King- 
dom; through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — "A  Book  of 
Prayers  for  Students." 

Second  Week,  Seventh  Day 

A  life  of  negative  uselessness  is  also  caused  by  mere 
frivolity. 

Now  the  parable  is  this:  The  seed  is  the  word  of  God. 
And  those  by  the  way  side  are  they  that  have  heard;  then 
cometh  the  devil,  and  taketh  away  the  word  from  their  heart, 
that  they  may  not  believe  and  be  saved.  And  those  on  the 
rock  are  they  who,  when  they  have  heard,  receive  the  word 
with  joy;  and  these  have  no  root,  who  for  a  while  believe, 
and  in  time  of  temptation  fall  away.  And  that  which  fell 

25 


lll-c]  THE  MEAXIXG  OF  SERVICE 

among  the  thorns,  these  are  they  that  have  heard,  and  as 
they  go  on  their  way  they  are  choked  with  cares  and  riches 
and  pleasures  of  this  life,  and  bring  no  fruit  to  perfection. 
And  that  in  the  good  ground,  these  are  such  as  in  an  hon- 
est and  good  heart,  having  heard  the  word,  hold  it  fast, 
and  bring  forth  fruit  with  patience. — Luke  8:  11-15. 

Consider  the  third  kind  of  soil,  where  worldly  cares,  and 
love  of  gain,  and  delight  of  life's  good  times  destroyed  the 
fruit.  Such  a  description  does  not  involve  conduct  notori- 
ously evil,  but  it  does  picture  a  style  of  living  which  lacks 
seriousness.  Some  of  these  folk  were  evidently  light-headed, 
frivolous ;  they  were  preoccupied  with  pleasure,  instead  of 
being  served  by  it.  They  may  have  been  very  gay  and  win- 
some, and  not  by  any  means  unamiable.  but,  for  all  their  en- 
gaging qualities,  the  fact  remains  that  they  flitted  through 
life;  frivoled  their  time  and  energy  away;  were  tickled  by 
manv  transient  pleasures,  tiring  of  which  they  sought  for 
new ;  and  their  selfish  and  frittered  lives  "ended  like  a  broom, 
in  a  multitude  of  small  straws." 

How  familiar,  are  these  causes  of  useless  living  among 
decent  folk !  Some  do  not  associate  their  churchgoing.  as 
Jesus  did.  with  service ;  some  praise  God  indeed,  but  have 
never  had  their  active  powers  captured  by  him ;  some  do  not 
know  human  life  outside  their  little  circles;  some  do  not 
want  their  comfortable  schedule  of  life  disturbed ;  some  are 
content  with  harmlessness ;  some  define  duty  in  terms  of 
repression  rather  than  expression ;  and  some  are  absorbed  in 
frivolity.  Is  there  any  one  of  us  who  is  altogether  free  from 
such  unserviceable  faults? 

Lord,  let  me  not  live  to  be  useless! — John  Wesley. 

COMMENT    FOR   THE    WEEK 
I 

Over  against  the  virtues  of  a  serviceable  life  stand  in  sharp 
contrast  destructive  qualities  like  cruelty,  rapacity,  and  hatred. 
Against  these  and  all  their  kin  the  Master  loosed  his  wrath. 
But  he  knew  well  that  the  majority  of  folk  are  not  so  much 
tempted  to  fall  away  from  positive  service  into  positive  de- 
structiveness,  as  they  are  tempted  to  fall  between  the  tzvo  into 
negative  uselessness.  It  is  worth  our  while,  therefore,  to  note 

26 


THE  PERIL  OF  USEIESSXESS  ^II-cJ 

the  intensity  and  persistency  with  which  the  Master  bore  down 
upon  this  deadly  sin. 

No  outbreaking  evil  is  reported  of  the  pious  travelers,  the 
priest  and  the  Levite,  who  in  the  parable  of  the  good  Samari- 
tan left  the  robbed  and  wounded  man  untended  in  his  trouble. 
One  asks  in  vain  what  positive  wrong  they  did.  The  Master's 
condemnation  falls  on  them  because  they  did  nothing.  They 
"went  by  on  the  other  side."  No  oppressive  wrongs  are  men- 
tioned in  the  story  of  Dives  who  feasted  sumptuously  while 
Lazarus  lay  uncared  for  at  his  gate  (Luke  16:19-31).  The 
indictment  concerns  only  what  Dives  did  not  do.  He  was 
useless.  No  destructive  vices  are  reported  of  those  who  stand 
condemned  in  the  great  parable  of  the  judgment  (Matt. 
25:31-46).  The  indictment  against  them  is  a  comprehensive 
charge  of  uselessness :  "I  was  hungry,  and  ye  did  not  give 
me  to  eat ;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink ;  I  was  a 
stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed  me 
not;  sick,  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited  me  not.". 

Everywhere  in  the  teaching  of  our  Lord  this  central  em- 
phasis is  found.  Sometimes  he  illustrates  his  thought  in 
terms  of  business.  No  positive  dishonor  is  charged  against 
the  man  of  one  talent  who  hid  his  entrustment  in  a  napkin 
while  his  fellows  profitably  traded  with  their  capital  and 
multiplied  it  (Matt.  25:  14-30).  He  is  accused  by  the  Master 
of  doing  nothing.  But  in  the  Master's  eyes  no  charge  is  more 
terrific.  He  was  "a  good-for-nothing  servant" ;  he  must  be 
cast  into  "outer  darkness."  Sometimes  the  Master  illustrates 
his  thought  in  terms  of  agriculture.  Three  kinds  of  ground 
stand  heartily  condemned  in  the  parable  of  the  sower  (Mark 
4:1-20).  One  was  hard  and  would  not  take  the  seed;  one 
was  stony  and  gave  the  seed  thin  rootage ;  one  was  rich  and 
grew  choking  weeds.  But  the  gist  of  the  final  fault  in  every 
case  lay  here :  the  ground  was  useless.  Sometimes  the  Master 
illustrates  his  thought  in  terms  of  domestic  life.  A  most 
amiable  boy  is  pictured  in  the  parable  where  the  lather  asks 
his  two  sons  for  service  in  the  vineyard  (Matt.  21:28-31). 
"I  go,  sir,"  said  one,  a  winsome,  well-intentioned,  gracious 
lad.  "But  he  went  not,"  said  Jesus.  That  negative  is  one  of 
the  most  damning  charges  that  can  be  brought  against  a 
human  life.  However  well-intentioned,  the  boy  was  useless. 
The  Master's  praise  goes  rather  to  the  other  son,  whose  words 
were  not  gracious  but  who  did  the  work. 


[II-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

When  the  Master  speaks  of  the  future  life,  it  is  with  use- 
less people  that  his  most  fearful  apprehensions  are  concerned. 
The  useless  chaff  will  be  consumed,  he  says  (Matt.  3:12); 
the  useless  weeds  must  necessarily  be  burned  (Matt.  13:30). 
The  very  word  Gehenna,  which  we  translate  Hell,  means 
Valley  of  Hinnom,  the  place  of  incineration  outside  Jerusalem 
where  the  rubbish  of  the  city  was  consumed.  Such  a  pictur- 
esque and  flaming  figure  may  be  uncertain  in  its  doctrinal 
implications,  but  it  makes  convincingly  clear  the  principle  on 
which  the  Master  estimated  men.  Above  all  other  things  he 
hated  uselessness.  Recall  his  condemnation  of  savorless  salt, 
harmless  but  insipidly  good  for  nothing.  Recall  his  rebuke 
of  lives  that  like  candles  under  the  bed  or  covered  by  a  vessel 
burn,  but  burn  uselessly  (Luke  8:16).  And  consider  his 
incisive  words  in  the  parable  of  the  fig  tree:  "A  certain  man 
had  a  fig  tree  planted  in  his  vineyard ;  and  he  came  seeking 
fruit  thereon,  and  found  none.  And  he  said  unto  the  vine- 
dresser, Behold,  these  three  years  I  come  seeking  fruit  on 
this  fig  tree,  and  find  none :  cut  it  down ;  why  doth  it  also 
cumber  the  ground?"  (Luke  13:6-9.) 

II 

This  same  standard  of  judgment  the  Master  used  concern- 
ing institutions  as  well  as  persons.  In  his  eyes  the  only  solid 
claim  on  perpetuity  for  any  organisation  must  rest  on  useful- 
ness, and  he  did  not  hesitate  to  force  this  issue  home  with 
ruthless  severity  on  the  most  venerable  religious  institutions 
of  his  day.  Nothing,  for  example,  was  more  sacred  in  his 
people's  thought  than  the  Sabbath.  They  said  that  God  him- 
self had  rested  on  the  Sabbath ;  that  the  deliverance  from 
Egypt  took  place  on  the  Sabbath ;  that  God  with  his  own 
fingers  had  written  the  Sabbath  law  on  Sinai.  The  rabbis 
said  that  God  had  created  the  human  race  that  he  might  have 
some  one  to  keep  the  Sabbath.  Then  Jesus  came,  and  even 
that  sacred  day  he  subjected  to  the  ruthless  test  of  useful- 
ness. The  rabbis  had  said  that  .men  were  created  to  keep  the 
Sabbath ;  he  answered  that  "the  sabbath  was  made  for  man 
and  not  man  for  the  sabbath"  (Mark  2:27).  He  said  that 
with  all  its  venerable  history  and  sacred  associations,  that  holi- 
est of  days  would  stand  or  fall  by  one  test:  usefulness  to 
people.  If  by  it  human  life  grew  richer,  well!  If  not,  no 

28 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESS  NESS  [II-c] 

theory  of  divine  institution  could  sustain  it.  And  because 
the  Sabbath  became  a  burden  and  not  a  blessing,  it  is  gone^ 
in  Christendom  and  the  Lord's  Day  takes  its  place. 

As  the  Master  tested  the  Sabbath,  so  he  tested  the  temple. 
The  House  of  God  on  Zion  was  the  most  sacred  spot  the 
Jews  had  ever  known.  During  long  centuries  of  passionate 
devotion  they  had  loved  it  when  possessed,  longed  for  it  in 
exile,  rebuilt  it  when  regained,  and  in  spirit  from  the  ends 
of  the  earth  had  revisited  it  continually  with  ardent  prayer. 
The  Master  shared  this  loyalty.  From  the  time  when  twelve 
years  old  he  stood  within  his  Father's  house  and  questioned 
the  doctors  of  the  law,  to  the  day  when,  ready  to  face  the 
Cross,  he  swung  around  the  brow  of  Olivet  and,  seeing  the 
gleaming  dome  on  Zion,  burst  into  tears,  he  was  a  lover  of 
the  temple.  But  he  saw  also  the  inviolable  law  which  even 
the  temple  could  not  escape.  Priests  using  the  sacred  courts 
to  squeeze  ill-gotten  gains  from  the  people's  piety ;  rabbis 
loving  to  be  called  rabbi,  seeking  the  chief  places  at  the  feasts ; 
Levites  hurrying  up  the  Jerusalem-Jericho  road  to  be  on  time 
at  the  temple  sacrifice,  but  careless  of  victims  who  had  fallen 
among  thieves ;  Pharisees  wearing  their  broad  phylacteries  and 
loading  on  the  people's  conscience  burdens  grievous  to  be 
borne;  the  temple,  a  place  of  special  privilege  and  not  of 
service — all  that  he  saw,  and  though  it  broke  his  heart  to 
say  it,  he  cried  out  that  not  one  stone  should  be  left  upon 
another. 

Many  dubious  problems  concerning  the  Master's  life  .and 
teaching  baffle  our  inquiry,  but  one  central  fact  stands  clear : 
in  his  eyes  uselessness  was  a  deadly  sin,  and  no  permanence 
or  greatness  could  belong  to  any  person  however  eminent  or 
to  any  institution  however  sacred  unless  it  served  the  people. 

Ill 

All  history  is  a  running  commentary  on  the  truth  of  this 
principle  of  Jesus.  Even  in  the  sub-human  world,  before 
ethical  meanings  are  evident,  we  can  perceive  that  there  is 
some  relationship  between  permanence  and  usefulness.  We 
cannot  answer  our  children's  simple  questions  about  the  ani- 
mals they  love  without  recourse  to  it.  Why  do  squirrels  have 
bushy  tails?  Because  they  are  useful  for  balancing  in  the 
branches  of  trees.  Why  do  cats  and  dogs  have  eyes  in  the 

29 


[II-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

front  of  their  heads?  Because  they  are  hunters,  and  eyes  in 
front  are  useful  to  spy  the  game  they  seek.  Why  do  rabbits 
nave  eyes  on  the  sides  of  their  heads?  Because  they  are  not 
hunters  but  are  hunted,  and  eyes  at  the  side  are  useful  to 
watch  in  every  direction  for  approaching  foes.  From  such 
homely  facts  to  the  most  learned  explanation  of  the  evolution 
of  species,  this  truth  is  evident:  that  a  useful  function  is  the 
best  guaranty  of  permanence,  and  that  outgrowing  that  us^- 
ful  function  any  living  thing  falls  into  peril  of  extinction. 
If  it  survives  at  all,  it  is  crowded  as  a  derelict  into  the  shal- 
lows and  back  eddies,  out  of  the  main  stream  of  life.  So 
the  sense  of  smell,  the  most  useful  safeguard  of  the  animals, 
become  less  necessary  among  men,  grows  immeasurably  less 
acute.  As  Huxley  says,  "The  sense  of  usclcssncss  is  the  sever- 
est shock  that-any  organism  can  sustain." 

When  one  turns  from  sub-human  nature  to  human  society, 
this  principle  becomes  even  more  evident.  The  history  of  man 
is  strewn  with  the  wrecks  of  social  customs  and  political 
institutions  that  seemed  great  and  permanent.  Men  thought 
them  inextricably  wrought  into  the  fabric  of  life.  A  world 
without  them  was  unimaginable.  But  they  were  not  useful 
to  the  progress  and  enrichment  of  mankind,  and  they  have 
vanished. 

Consider  so  contemporary  a  matter  as  the  prohibition  of 
the  liquor  traffic  in  the  United  States !  Convivial  drinking 
goes  back  to  the  dawn  of  history.  It  is  one  of  the  immemorial 
traditions  of  the  race.  It  has  been  enshrined  in  story,  exalted 
in  art,  made  fascinating  in  song,  and  countless  customs  of 
private  friendship  and  public  ceremonial  have  been  entwined 
with  it.  Moreover,  in  our  modern  time  billions  of  dollars  have 
been  invested  in  the  traffic.  It  seemed  absurd  to  propose  its 
abolition.  But  one  unescapable  fact  was  more  than  a  match 
for  this  enormous  weight  of  power :  the  liquor  traffic  was 
not  useful.  All  men  who  knew  the  facts  saw  that  from  the 
cavernous  maw  of  the  liquor  traffic  came  an  endless  stream 
of  wrecked  homes  and  blasted  lives,  of  unspeakable  personal 
filth  and  public  degradation,  of  economic  inefficiency  and 
unproductiveness.  Whatever  else  the  liquor  traffic  involved, 
it  always  involved  this.  Tradition,  wealth,  the  ingrained  habit 
of  millions  of  men — not  all  these  together  could  withstand  that 
fact.  The  liquor  traffic  must  go,  for  usefulness  is  the  only 
assumed  basis  of  survival  for  any  institution  in  society. 

30 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSXESS  [II-c] 

Countless  social  customs  and  organizations  now  fallen  on 
ruin  bear  witness  to  this  ruthless  impatience  of  life  with 
unserviceable  things.  Though  they  may  long  survive,  they 
are  at  infinite  disadvantage.  Absolute  monarchy,  slavery, 
the  duel,  the  ordeal,  judicial  torture,  great  empires  built  on 
conquest  and  by  brute  force  maintained — how  long  is  the  list 
of  proud,  inveterate  institutions,  once  boastfully  sure  of  their 
reasonableness  and  perpetuity,  that  now  are  gone  because 
they  were  not  useful !  Serviceableness  is  not  a  pleasant  ideal, 
superimposed  on  life  by  ethical  dreamers.  Serviceableness  is 
one  of  the  most  formidable  demands  of  life,  by  the  satisfac- 
tion of  which  alone  can  any  institution  hope  finally  to  sur- 
vive. For  though  men  scoff  at  it,  rebel  and  chafe  against  it, 
seek  escape  by  subterfuge,  or  try  to  brush  back  the  sea  with 
a  broom,  the  truth  remains  that  no  international  policy,  no 
economic  system,  no  social  custom,  no  ecclesiastical  estab- 
lishment, no  personal  eminence,  has  any  sure  tenure  of  per- 
manence and  power  unless  it  serves  the  people. 

IV 

The  importance  of  this  principle  to  Christian  folk  is  evident. 
The  institutions  and  the  people  that  call  themselves  by  the 
name  of  Jesus  are  not  exempt  from  the  laws  of  Jesus.  Only 
usefulness  can  assure  their  continued  influence.  Without  that 
all  successfully  defended  doctrines,  all  possession  of  regal 
station,  of  social  prestige  and  wealth,  all  theories  of  divine 
ordination,  all.  venerable  associations  accumulated  through 
long  centuries,  are  powerless  to  sustain  their  strength.  With 
nothing  more  than  such  things  to  plead,  our  churches  will 
disappear  like  a  thousand  other  organizations,  whose 

"pomp  of  yesterday 
Is  one  with  Nineveh  and  Tyre." 

To  pour  out  into  the  world  a  multitude  of  people  who  have 
caught  the  sacrificial  spirit  of  the  Master,  and  who,  in  his 
faith  and  purpose,  give  themselves  to  the  service  of  mankind 
— that  alone  is  the  sustaining  glory  and  hope  of  the  Christian 
Gospel. 

Indeed,  this  principle  of  Jesus,  severe  as  it  is  and  ruthless 
as  its  operation  often  seems,  is  full  of  hopeful  prophecy.  In 
the  life  of  our  churches  today  are  many  belated  elements, 


[II-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

from  outgrown  ideas  to  needless  sectarian  divisions,  which 
are  no  longer  useful.  They  serve  no  purpose  in  enriching  the 
spiritual  life  of  men  and  in  spreading  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
If  the  Master  in  person  were  here,  he  would  visit  on  them  the 
same  treatment  which  he  visited  on  the  Sabbath  and  on  the 
temple.  And  for  all  men  of  forward-looking  spirit  it  means 
courage  to  perceive  that  the  universe  itself  conspires  against 
these  unserviceable  things.  When  any  custom  once  useful 
loses  its  function,  the  very  stars  in  heaven  fight  with  us  against 
that  Sisera. 

Alike  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  therefore,  and  the  special 
call  of  our  times  urge  on  Christians  the  aspect  of  the  Gospel 
which  we  have  set  ourselves  to  study.  The  passing  genera- 
tions have  their  various  needs,  and  under  the  urgency  of 
changing  circumstances,  the  manifold  aspects  of  the  Christian 
faith,  one  by  one,  are  lifted  to  the  front.  Now  this  truth  is 
specially  demanded,  now  that  duty  must  be  specially  en- 
forced. In  our  day,  for  the  sake  of  the  integrity  of  Christian 
character,  the  progress  of  the  Christian  Church,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  the  world,  we  need  a  new  hatred  of  uselessness  in 
institutions  and  persons,  and  a  new  baptism  of  the  spirit  of 
sacrificial  and  effective  service. 


In  particular,  as  Christians  and  churchmen  we  well  may  give 
thought  to  the  necessary  extension  of  the  idea  of  Christian 
service  with  which  our  times  manifestly  face  us.  We  are 
here  not  simply  to  save  people  out  of  the  world  but  to  save 
the  world.  A  lamentable  feud  exists  between  the  partisans 
of  personal  and  social  Christianity.  I  believe  in  personal 
Christianity,  says  one.  I  believe  in  preaching  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  to  individuals.  The  sole  business  of  the  Church  is  to 
proclaim  the  evangel  of  divine  forgiveness  and  regeneration 
until  those  who  accept  it  are  soundly  saved  and  inwardly 
transformed.  On  the  other  side  another  cries :  I  believe  in 
social  Christianity.  I  seek  the  application  of  the  principles 
of  Jesus  to  our  economic  and  international  order.  I  am  a 
patriot  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  the  earth,  and  only  as 
our  social  wrongs  are  righted  does  that  Kingdom  come.  So 
do  the  devotees  of  personal  and  social  Christianity  confront 
each  other. 

32 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSXESS  [II-c] 

The  dilemma,  however,  on  which  they  impale  themselves 
is  false.  The  full  truth,  as  so  often  happens,  flies  like  a  bird 
with  two  wings,  and  maimed  in  either  by  our  partial  think- 
ing it  flutters  a  crippled  creature  on  the  ground.  The  par- 
tisans of  individual  Christianity  are  right  in  this :  the  Chris- 
tian Gospel  seeks  the  redemption  of  personality.  Men  and 
women  are  the  infinitely  valuable  children  of  God.  Chris- 
tianity ardently  desires  to  save  them  from  every  enemy  that 
cripples  and  enslaves  them,  to  unfold  their  possibilities,  to 
lead  them  out  into  spiritual  triumph  and  abundant  life.  And 
the  partisans  of  social  Christianity  are  right  in  this :  that  you 
cannot  really  be  in  earnest  about  saving  personality  and  still 
neglect  the  social  life  from  which  personality  springs  and  by 
which  it  is  tremendously  affected.  Those  who  plead  for  the 
personal  evangel  against  social  reformation  contradict  them- 
selves. 

To  say  that  we  have  Christian  love  for  children,  while  we 
are  careless  of  the  conditions  of  child  labor  that  deaden  and 
damn  the  souls  of  children  before  they  are  old  enough  to 
know  their  hapless  plight ;  to  say  that  we  long  to  save  men 
from  the  power  of  lust,  when  we  placidly  allow  city  officials 
to  grow  rich  on  the  gains  of  lust,  commercially  organized  and 
publicly  flaunted ;  to  say  that  we  desire  personality  redeemed, 
while  we  passively  let  disease  and  poverty  beat  men  in  body 
and  in  soul,  and  unstirred  see  families  live  in  hovels  where 
all  reticence  and  modesty  are  made  impossible  and  vice  grows 
rank;  to  say  that  we  long  to  lead  men  into  abundant  life, 
while  we  hear  unmoved  of  tens  of  thousands  of  men  in  one 
American  corporation  who  work  twelve  hours  a  day,  seven 
days  a  week ;  to  say  that  we  want  Christ  to  triumph  in  the 
spirits  of  all  men,  while  we  let  international  relationships  re- 
main un-Christianized,  with  their  inevitable  issue  in  bitterness 
and  hatred  and  all  the  ugly  tempers  that  are  the  spawn  of 
war — what  is  all  this  but  sheer  hypocrisy? 

To  be  sure,  some  of  the  most  thrilling  stories  of  Christian 
victory  concern  folk  touched  to  fine  issues  by  Christ's  Gospel, 
who  came  up  out  of  the  lowest  conditions  to  spiritual  triumph. 
So,  though  a  plank  thrown  on  the  sward  have  but  a  single 
nail  hole  in  it,  some  aspiring  blade  of  grass  will  find  it  and 
come  up  from  the  obscurity  and  darkness  underneath  to 
rejoice  in  the  splendor  of  the  sun.  But  one  who  sees,  with 
understanding  eyes,  that  miracle  of  individual  triumph,  can- 

33 


[II-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

not  be  content.  Consider  all  the  dead  and  withered  grass  for 
which  no  way  of  escape  was  found  ^  So  blighting  conditions 
lie  across  the  lives  of  millions  of  folk  today  alike  in  heathen- 
dom and  Christendom.  Here  and  there  some  few  break 
through  to  liberty.  But  the  crushed  multitudes — how  can  a 
disciple  of  Jesus  think  of  them  with  equanimity?  Men  are  not 
disembodied  spirits.  They  are  tremendously  moved  and 
molded  by  the  environment  in  which  they  live.  No  one  can 
hope  to  save  the  world  without  saving  men ;  but  neither  can 
one  hope  to  save  men  without  saving  the  world.  The  two 
involve  each  other;  they  are  one.  The  Church's  best  gift  to 
mankind  is  redeemed  personality ;  but  redeemed  personality's 
'best  gift  to  mankind  is  a  better  world,  more  fit  to  be  a  home 
for  the  family  of  God.  He  who  is  a  partisan  for  either  of 
these  avenues  of  service  against  the  other  is  a  fair  target  for 
that  newly  discovered  saying  of  our  Lord :  "Thou  hearest  with 
one  ear,  but  the  other  thou  hast  closed." 

Too  long  have  many  Christians  been  content  with  the  ideal 
of  negative  unworldliness.  The  true  antidote  for  worldliness 
is  not  unworldliness  alone,  but  better-worldliness.  Worldli- 
ness says,  Indulge  as  you  will  in  drink;  unworldliness  says, 
Be  a  teetotaler ;  better-worldliness  says,  The  whole  accursed 
liquor  traffic  can  be  stopped.  Worldliness  says,  Salacious 
drama  is  a  permissible  delight ;  unworldliness  says,  The 
theater  is  utterly  taboo ;  better-worldliness  says,  The  recrea- 
tion of  the  people  must  be  redeemed  to  decency  and  worth. 
Worldliness  says,  Play  politics  according  to  the  current  rules 
of  the  game ;  unworldliness  says,  Eschew  politics  altogether ; 
better-worldliness  says,  The  State  can  be  as  Christian  as  a 
man  and  Christian  men  must  make  it  so.  Worldliness  says, 
Business  is  a  selfish  conflict  for  revenue  only ;  unworldliness 
says,  Seek  not  to  be  rich ;  better-worldliness  says,  Business  is 
an  indispensable  service  to  mankind,  and  if  it  be  organized 
and  fairly  run  for  man's  sake  and  not  for  money  only,  it  can 
be  made  as  Christian  as  a  church.  Worldliness  says.  When 
war  comes,  fight;  unworldliness  says,  No  Christian  must  ever 
fight  at  all ;  better-worldliness  says,  International  anarchy  is 
a  relic  of  barbarism  and  if  Christian  folk  will  seriously  set 
themselves  to  organize  the  good  will  of  the  world,  it  can  be 
stopped.  In  a  word,  worldliness  says.  Let  the  world  be ; 
unworldliness  says,  Come  out  from  the  world ;  better-worldli- 
ness says,  In  God's  name,  save  the  world ! 

'    34 


THE  PERIL  OF  USELESSNESS  [II-c] 

The  great  days  of  the  Church  come  when  that  full  scope  of 
service  is  accepted  as  the  Christian  task.  When  Carey  gives 
the  Bible  in  translation  to  millions  of  people ;  when  Living- 
stone throws  wide  the  doorways  of  a.  new  continent  to  civil- 
ization ;  when  Paton  lays  the  foundation  of  a  new  social 
order  in  the  Hebrides ;  when  Hamlin  drives  the  opening 
wedge  of  Christian  civilization  into  Constantinople — 'then  come 
the  great  days  of  the  Church.  When  of  William  Wilber- 
f orce's  fight  against  the  slave  traffic  it  can  be  said :  "The  clergy 
to  a  man  are  favorable  to  the  cause"  and  "the  people  have 
taken  up  the  matter  in  the  view  of  duty  and  religion,  and 
do  not  inquire  what  any  man  or  set  of  men  think  of  it,"  then 
come  great  days  to  the  Church.  For  great  days  never  can 
come  to  the  Church,  except  as  she  shares  the  spirit  of  her 
Lord,  and  her  Lord's  demand  was  not  simply  new  men  in  an 
old  world  but  a  new  world  to  house  new  men. 


35 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Strong  and  the  Weak 

DAILY    READINGS 

We  are  to  consider  this  week  the  problem  created  by  human 
inequality.  Where  some  are  by  nature  and  privilege  more 
highly  endowed  than  others,  Christianity  at  once  insists  on 
the  use  of  the  superior  strength  in  service.  In  our  daily  read- 
ings we  shall  endeavor  to  see  the  dangers  associated  with  the 
possession  of  superior  strength,  if  this  Christian  principle  is 
not  observed. 

Third  Week,  First  Day 

Paul  from  his  prison  writes  to  his  friends  at  Philippi  as 
follows : 

But  I  rejoice  in  the  Lord  greatly,  that  now  at  length 
ye  have  revived  your  thought  for  me;  wherein  ye  did 
indeed  take  thought,  but  ye  lacked  opportunity.  Not  that 

II  speak  in  respect  of  want:  for  I  have  learned,  in  what- 
soever state  I  am,  therein  to  be  content.  I  know  how  to 
be  abased,  and  I  know  also  how  to  abound:  in  everything 
and  in  all  things  have  I  learned  the  secret  both  to  be  filled 
and  to  be  hungry,  both  to  abound  and  to  be  in  want.  I 
can  do  all  things  in  him  that  strengthened  me. — Phil. 
4:  10-13- 


THE  STROXG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-2] 

he  said :  I  am  now  an  old  man.  In  my  experience  I  have 
swept  the  gamut  of  human  life.  I  have  experienced  proud 
eminence  and  contemptuous  ostracism.  I  have  had  culture, 
education,  money ;  and  I  have  been  tossed  about  the  earth, 
a  poor  tentmaker,  apostle  of  a  persecuted  faith.  At  the  end 
I  bear  witness  that  Jesus  Christ  enables  a  man  to  stand  any- 
thing that  can  happen  to  him.  I  could  even  stand  success.  I 
know  how  to  abound. 

How  often  have  we  so  considered  our  privileges  as  a  diffi- 
cult problem  to  be  spiritually  mastered? 

()  most  liberal  Distributer  of  Thy  gifts,  zvho  givest  us  all 
kinds  of  good  things  to  use,  grant  to  us  Thy  grace,  that  we 
misuse  not  these  Thy  gracious  gifts  given  to  our  use  and  profit. 
Grant  us  to  be  conversant  amongst  Thy  gifts,  soberly,  purely, 
temperately,  holily,  because  Thou  art  such  a  one;  so  shall  not 
u'e  turn  that  to  the  poison  of  our  souls,  -which  Thou  hast  given 
for  the  medicine  of  our  bodies,  but  using  Thy  benefits  thank- 
fully, n'c  shall  find  them  profitable  both  to  soul  and  body. 
A  men. — "Christian  Prayers,"  1566. 

Third  Week,  Second  Day 

Now  there  was  a  certain  rich  man,  and  he  was  clothed 
in  purple  and  fine  linen,  faring  sumptuously  every  day: 
and  a  certain  beggar  named  Lazarus  was  laid  at  his  gate, 
full  of  sores,  and  desiring  to  be  fed  with  the  crumbs  that 
fell  from  the  rich  man's  table;  yea,  even  the  dogs  came 
and  licked  his  sores.  And  it  came  to  pass,  that  the  beggar 
died,  and  that  he  was  carried  away  by  the  angels  into 
Abraham's  bosom:  and  the  rich  man  also  died,  and  was 
buried.  And  in  Hades  he  lifted  up  his  eyes,  being  in  tor- 
ments, and  seeth  Abraham  afar  off,  and  Lazarus  in  his 
bosom.  And  he  cried  and  said,  Father  Abraham,  have 
mercy  on  me,  and  send  Lazarus,  that  he  may  dip  the  tip 
of  his  finger  in  water,  and  cool  my  tongue;  for  I  am  in 
anguish  in  this  flame.  But  Abraham  said,  Son,  remember 
that  thou  in  thy  lifetime  receivedst  thy  good  things,  and 
Lazarus  in  like  manner  evil  things:  but  now  here  he  is 
comforted,  and  thou  art  in  anguish.  And  besides  all  this, 
between  us  and  you  there  is  a  great  gulf  fixed,  that  they 
that  would  pass  from  hence  to  you  may  not  be  able,  and 
that  none  may  cross  over  from  thence  to  us. — Luke 
16:  19-26.  \ 

The  minds  of  the  Pharisees  who  heard  Jesus  were  already 
37 


[II1-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

furnished  with  the  popular,  lurid  picture  of  future  punishment 
which  Jesus  uses  here.  What  is  new  to  them  is  not  the  back- 
ground of  flaming  condemnation,  but  the  character  of  the 
person  who  is  condemned.  Jesus  takes  a  familiar  setting  and 
puts  into  it  an  unfamiliar  personnel.  For  what  the  Master 
says  is  this:  The  condemned  character  is  a  man  who  having 
superior  privileges  proves  himself  unfit  to  have  them.  How 
much  we  need  that  lesson!  In  our  eyes,  success  is  in  itself 
an  estate  most  to  be  desired ;  we  forget  that  success  is  a  fine 
art,  of  all  arts  most  difficult  to  handle.  We  clamor  for  power 
— fortune,  wealth,  prestige.  How  can  I  succeed?  is  our  ques- 
tion. We  do  not  ask,  Am  I  fit  to  succeed?  Yet  the  second 
question  is  the  more  important.  It  is  one  thing  to  be  in  a 
happy  and  fortunate  estate ;  it  is  another  to  be  fit  to  be  there. 
It  is  one  thing  to  be  well  fed ;  it  is  another  to  be  worth  feed- 
ing. It  is  one  thing,  like  Dives,  to  have  money  and  influence 
and  social  position,  and  it  is  another  to  be  the  kind  of  man 
who  is  fit  to  have  them.  And  the  Master  insists  that  fitness 
to  possess  any  privilege  can  be  proved  only  by  service  to  the 
unprivileged.  There  is  no  hope  for  Dives  until  he  learns  to 
pray  like  this: 

Blessed  Lord,  who  for  our  sakes  zvast  content  to  bear  sor- 
row and  want  and  death;  Grant  unto  us  such  a  measure  of 
Thy  Spirit  that  we  may  follow  Thee  in'  all  self-denial  and 
tenderness  of  soul.  Help  us  by  Thy  great  love,  to  succour 
the  afflicted,  to  relieve  the  needy  and  destitute,  to  share  tlic 
burdens  of  the  heavy-laden,  and  ever  to  see  Thee  in  all  that 
are  poor  and  desolate.  Amen. — Bishop  Westcott  (1825-1901). 

Third  Week,  Third  Day 

And  he  spake  a  parable  unto  them,  saying,  The  ground 
of  a  certain  rich  man  brought  forth  plentifully:  and  he  rea- 
soned within  himself,  saying,  What  shall  I  do,  because 
I  have  not  where  to  bestow  my  fruits?  And  he  said,  This 
will  I  do:  I  will  pull  down  my  barns,  and  build  greater; 
and  there  will  I  bestow  all  my  grain  and  my  goods.  And 
I  will  say  to  my  soul,  Soul,  thou  hast  much  goods  laid  up 
for  many  years;  take  thine  ease,  eat,  drink,  be  merry. 
But  God  said  unto  him, 'Thou  foolish  one,  this  night  is 
thy  soul  required  of  thee;  and  the  things  which  thou  hast 
prepared,  whose  shall  they  be?  So  is  he  that  layeth  up 
treasure  for  himself,  and  is  not  rich  toward  God. — Luke 
12:  1 6-2 1. 

38 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-4] 

Let  us  imagine  this  colossal  failure  in  his  youth.  He  may 
have  been  able,  steady,  energetic,  ambitious.  He  wished .  to 
succeed  and  he  was  willing  to  pay  the  price.  He  gave  himself 
efficiently  to  his  labor ;  he  lived  a  clean,  hard-working  life ; 
he  made  no  fool  of  himself  with  debauchery.  So  long  as  he 
had  success  to  gain  he  was  a  good  man.  .  But  when  he  had 
gained  it — there  the  Master's  record  of  his  utter  ruin  begins! 
For  it  is  often  easier  to  gain  success  than  to  use  it  well. 
Some  men  are  ruined  by  adversity.  But  alas !  for  the  many 
who  do  not  fail,  who  climb  high  and  higher  yet  before  the 
applauding  eyes  of  their  fellows,  until  they  fall  over  the 
precipice  of  their  own  prosperity!  It  is  not  easy  to  abound. 
With  what  appreciation  do  we  read  Erasmus's  description  of 
his  powerful  friend,  Sir  Thomas  More :  "Elevation  has  not 
elated  him  or  made  him  forgetful  of  his  humble  friends.  He 
is  always  kind,  always  generous.  Some  he  helps  with  money, 
some  with  influence.  When  he  can  give  nothing  else  he  gives 
advice.  He  is  Patron-General  to  all  poor  devils." 

For  those  who  in  their  plenty  live  delicately,  contemn  the 
poor,  and  forget  God ;  for  all  people  whose  hearts  are  so  per- 
ished within  them  that  pity  has  departed;  Shew  them  Thy 
ways.  Amen. — "A  Book  of  Prayers  for  Students." 

Third  Week,  Fourth  Day 

Charge  them  that  are  rich  in  this  present  world,  that 
they  be  not  highminded,  nor  have  their  hope  set  on  the 
uncertainty  of  riches,  but  on  God,  who  giveth  us  richly  all 
things  to  enjoy;  that  they  do  good,  that  they  be  rich  in 
good  works,  that  they  be  ready  to  distribute,  willing  to 
communicate;  laying  up  in  store  for  themselves  a  good 
foundation  against  the  time  to  come,  that  they  may  lay 
hold  on  the  life  which  is  life  indeed. — I  Tim.  6:  17-19. 

Why  is  such  an  injunction  so  apt  in  every  generation?  Is 
it  not  in  part  because  the  possession  of  power  in  any  form, 
whether  political  prestige,  social  station,  popularity,  or  wealth, 
always  begets  the  thirst  for  more?  Success  for  its  own  sake 
becomes  an  absorbing  passion.  If  a  man  have  none  of  it,  he 
may  solace  himself  without  it.  But  if  a  man  gain  even  a 
little  of  it,  like  strong  drink  it  may  soon  become  indispen- 
sable to  him.  He  must  have  more  and  more  of  it.  At  last 
he  joins  the  multitude  whose  portrait  the  New  Testament  so 

39 


[III-5]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

exactly  sketches :  "They  that  are  minded  to  be  rich  fall  into  a 
temptation  and  a  snare"  (I  Tim.  6:9).  Paul  does  not  say, 
"T-hey  that  are  rich" ;  he  says,  "They  that  are  minded  to  be 
rich."  The  thirst  is  on  them.  At  all  costs  they  propose  for 
themselves  to  be  rich.  Whether  with  one  kind  of  wealth  and 
power  or  another,  in  some  degree  we  are  all  endowed ;  and  the 
only  attitude  that  can  make  possible  a  Christian  character  is 
revealed  in  such  a  prayer  as  this : 

I     O   my  God,  make  me  a  good  man!     O  my  Father,  come 
I  what  may,  make  me  a  simple-minded,  honest,  humble,  and 
\bravc  Christian!    Let  me  seek  no  favour  but  Thine,  and  give 
my  heart  to  no  labour  but  in  Thee  and  for  Thee!     With  God 
my  Saviour  as  my  help  and  guide  may  I,  ere  I  die,  be  a  bless- 
ing to  the  city  in  zvhich  I  dwell,  especially  to  the  poor  and 
miserable,  in  it,  for  whom  my  heart  bleeds.    Amen. — Norman 
Macleod. 

Third  Week,  Fifth  Day 

Consider  the  Master's  description  of  the  scribes  and 
Pharisees : 

But  all  their  works  they  do  to  be  seen  of  men:  for  they 
make  broad  their  phylacteries,  and  enlarge  the  borders  of 
their  garments,  and  love  the  chief  place  at  feasts,  and  the 
chief  seats  in  the  synagogues,  and  the  salutations  in  the 
marketplaces,  and  to  be  called  of  men,  Rabbi.  But  be 
not  ye  called  Rabbi :  for  one  is  your  teacher,  and  all  ye  are 
brethren.  And  call  no  man  your  father  on  the  earth:  for 
one  is  your  Father,  even  he  who  is  in  heaven.  Neither  be 
ye  called  masters:  for  one  is  your  master,  even  the  Christ. 
But  he  that  is  greatest  among  you  shall  be  your  servant. 
And  whosoever  shall  exalt  himself  shall  be  humbled;  and 
whosoever  shall  humble  himself  shall /be  exalted. — Matt. 
23:5-12. 

The  scribes  and  Pharisees  were  the  privileged  classes  of 
their  day.  They  had  social  rank,  education,  culture,  public 
influence.  And  the  issue  of  such  possessions  the  Master  saw 
there,  as  he  can  see  it  in  any  generation :  pride,  exclusiveness, 
unbrotherliness.  For  one  peril  that  is  always  associated  with 
any  kind  of  success  or  power  is  that  it  will  kill  humility,  beget 
pride,  and  break  brotherhood.  Wrote  the  Duchess  of  Buck- 
ingham to  Lady  Huntingdon  about  the  early  Methodists : 

40 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-6] 

"Their  doctrines  are  most  repulsive,  and  strongly  tinctured 
with  impertinence  and  disrespect  to  their  superiors.  It  is 
monstrous  to  be  told  that  you  have  a  heart  as  sinful  as  the 
common  wretches  that  crawl  the  earth.  This  is  highly  insult- 
ing, and  I  wonder  that  your  Ladyship  should  relish  any  senti- 
ment so  much  at  variance  with  high  rank  and  good  breeding." 
Let  us  pray ! 

Thou,  O  God,  who  givest  Grace  to  the  Humble,  do  some- 
thing also  for  the  Proud  Man:  Make  me  Humble  and  Obedi- 
ent; take  from  me  the  Spirit  of  Pride  and  Haughtiness,  Am- 
bition and  Self-Flattery,  Confidence  and  Gayety;  Teach  me 
to  think  well,  and  to  expound  all  things  fairly  of  my  Brother, 
to  love  his  worthiness,  to  delight  in  his  Praises,  to  excuse  his 
Errors,  to  give  Thee  thanks  for  his  Graces,  to  rejoice  in  all 
the  good  that  he  receives,  and  ever  to  believe  and  speak  better 
things  of  him  than  of  myself. 

O  teach  me  to  love  to  be  concealed  and  little  esteem'd,  let 
me  be  truly  humbled  and  heartily  ashamed  of  my  Sin  and 
Folly.  Teach  me  to  bear  Reproaches  evenly,  for  I  have  de- 
serv'd  them;  to  refuse  all  Honours  done  unto  me,  because  I 
have  not  deserv'd  them;  to  return  all  to  Thee,  for  it  is  Thine 
alone;  to  suffer  Reproach  thankfully;  to  amend  my  faults 
speedily,  and  when  I  have  humbly,  patiently,  charitably,  and 
diligently  served  Thee,  change  this  Habit  into  the  shining 
Garment  of  Immortality,  my  Confusion  into  Glory,  my  Folly 
into  perfect  Knoivledge,  my  Weakness  and  Dishonours  into 
the  Strength  and  Beauties  of  the  Sons  of  God.  Amen. — 
Thomas  a  Kempis  (1379-1471). 

Third  Week,  Sixth  Day 

And  Jesus  looked  round  about,  and  saith  unto  his  dis- 
ciples, How  hardly  shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  God!  And  the  disciples  were  amazed  at 
his  words.  But  Jesus  answereth  again,  and  saith  unto 
them,  Children,  how  hard  is  it  for  them  that  trust  in  riches 
to  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God!  It  is  easier  for  a 
camel  to  go  through  a  needle's  eye,  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God.  And  they  were  astonished 
exceedingly,  saying  unto  him,  Then  who  can  be  saved? 
Jesus  looking  upon  them  saith,  With  men  it  is  impossible, 
but  not  with  God:  for  all  things  are  possible  with  God. — 
Mark  10:  23-27. 


[Ill-;]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

We  marvel  at  men  who,  heavily  handicapped  by  adversity, 
succeed  in  achieving  victorious  lives.  The  Master  marveled 
at  men  who,  heavily  handicapped  by  prosperity,  were  able  to 
rise  above  it.  It  seemed  to  him  a  superhuman  task  to  get  the 
spiritual  mastery  of  success.  Abraham  Lincoln  and  William 
Ewart  Gladstone  were  born  in  the  same  year.  One  was  born 
in  a  cabin,  and  the  other  in  a  castle.  One  was  so  poor  that 
he  says  the  first  day  he  earned  a  dollar  was  the  proudest  day 
of  his  life ;  and  the  other  was  so  rich  that  from  his  birth  to 
his  death  he  never  had  to  give  an  anxious  thought  to  his 
ample  fortune.  One  was  so  bereft  of  opportunity  that  all  his 
books  he  borrowed  and  read  by  a  pine  knot  on  the  hearth ; 
the  other  had  everything  the  schools  of  England  could  afford 
and  Christ  Church  College,  Oxford,  could  furnish.  The  one 
was  so  homely  that  a  member  of  his  Cabinet  called  him  a 
gorilla,  and  the  other  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men  in 
Europe.  One  started  with  nothing;  the  other  started  with 
everything.  Put  yourself  in  the  place  of  each,  and  consider : 
if  a  humble,  brotherly,  serviceable  Christian  life  were  your 
ideal,  under  which  set  of  circumstances  do  you  think  that  you 
would  meet  the  greater  obstacles? 

Take  from  us,  O  God,  all  pride  and  vanity,  boasting  and  for- 
zvardncss;  and  give  us  the  true  courage  that  shows  itself  by 
gentleness;  the  true  wisdom  that  shows  itself  by  simplicity; 
and  the  true  power  that  shows  itself  by  modesty. — Charles 
Kingsley. 

Third  Week,  Seventh  Day 

And  he  spake  also  this  parable  unto  certain  who  trusted 
in  themselves  that  they  were  righteous,  and  set  all  others 
at  nought:  Two  men  went  up  into  the  temple  to  pray; 
the  one  a  Pharisee,  and  the  other  a  publican.  The  Pharisee 
stood  and  prayed  thus  with  himself,  God,  I  thank  thee, 
that  I  am  not  as  the  rest  of  men,  extortioners,  unjust, 
adulterers,  or  even  as  this  publican.  I  fast  twice  in  the 
week;  I  give  tithes  of  all  that  I  get.  But  the  publican, 
standing  afar  off,  would  not  lift  up  so  much  as  his  eyes 
unto  heaven,  but  smote  his  breast,  saying,  God,  be  thou 
merciful  to  me  a  sinner.  I  say  unto  you,  This  man  went 
down  to  his  house  justified  rather  than  the  other:  for 
every  one  that  exalteth  himself  shall  be  humbled;  but  he 
that  humbleth  himself  shall  be  exalted. — Luke  18:  9-14. 

42 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-c] 

Here  is  the  final  consequence  of  a  successful,  prosperous 
life:  this  Pharisee  in  his  pride  and  self-content  loses  any 
genuine  sense  of  the  need  of  God.  How  often  indeed  do  we 
ourselves  secretly  feel  that  religion  is  for  the  wicked  and  the 
weak !  It  comforts  people  when  they  are  sad ;  it  steadies 
them  when  they  are  sick ;  it  offers  forgiveness  when  they  are 
condemned ;  it  gives  them  hope  when  they  come  to  die.  Reli- 
gion is  medicine  for  feebleness.  If  one  has  health,  fortune, 
and  reputation,  he  needs  it  little.  As  one  calls  in  a  nurse 
when  he  is  ill,  so  folk  when  fortune  fails  them  turn  to  reli- 
gious faith.  It  is  narcotic ;  it  soothes  them. 

Over  against  this  familiar  idea,  set  what  we  have  been  say- 
ing this  week.  Not  adversity  but  prosperity  is  for  many  men 
the  greater  strain  upon  their  characters.  Multitudes  of  folk 
in  each  generation  collapse  into  uselessness,  not  because  they 
were  weak,  but  because  they  could  not  master  the  strength 
entrusted  to  them.  The  fact  is  that  we  never  need  a  deep,  con- 1 
vincing,  and  powerful  spiritual  life  more  than  when  all  things 
are  going  well  with  us.  Let  us  hold  this  in  mind  as  we  turn 
to  study  the  obligation  which  the  strong,  if  they  are  to  be 
Christian,  must  discharge  to  the  weak. 

O  God,  who  knowest  us  to  be  set  in  the  midst  of  so  many 
and  great  dangers,  that,  by  reason  of  the  frailty  of  our  nature, 
ive  cannot  ahvays  stand  upright;  grant  to  us  such  strength  and 
protection  as  may  support  us  in  all  dangers  and  carry  us 
through  all  temptations;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. — Book  of  Common  Prayer,  1662. 


One  fact  which  plunges  us  at  once  into  the  heart  of  the 
problem  of  service  is  inequality.     Popular  interpretations  of 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  to  the  contrary  notwithstand- 
ing, men  are  not  born  equal.    All  men  by  right  of  birth  should  | 
have  an  equal  chance  to  become  all  that  they  are  capable  of| 
being,  but  this  principle  is  yet  a  long  way   from  producing 
actual  equality.     On  some  terms  the  strong  and  the  zveak  must 
live  together. 

Men  are  not  equal  in  practical  ability.  Under  any  easily 
predictable  economic  system,  if  riches  were  to  fall  like  snow 
upon  a  windless  day,  making  dead  level  everywhere,  upon 

43 


[III-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

that  scene  of  financial  equality  the  wind  of  unequal  ability 
would  blow  and  some  fields  would  be  drifted  high  and  some 
fields  blown  quite  bare.  Men  are  not  equal  in  intellectual 
capacity.  How  shall  we  explain  a  family  where  eight  children 
come,  none  destined  to  any  eminence,  but  where  the  ninth, 
Daniel  Webster,  grows  to  a  personal  impressiveness  that  used 
to  make  the  houses  on  Beacon  Street  look  smaller  when  he 
walked  by,  and  to  a  mental  power  that  in  debate  was  irre- 
sistible? We  get  no  answer  to  our  curious  inquiry.  Only 
we  know  that  some  men  put  the  pressure  on  their  brains  and 
find  them  there,  alert  and  eager ;  and  others  turn  on  the  cur- 
rent of  their  intellectual  ambition  with  no  better  consequence 
than  burning  out  the  fuse.  Men  are  not  equal  in  spiritual 
capacity.  All  men  have  in  them  the  power  to  open  up  their 
lives  to  the  influence  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  and  by  him  to  be 
transformed,  but  some  are  thimbles  in  comparative  capacity, 
and  others  are  oceans  with  tides  and  gulf  streams  and  com- 
merce-bearing depths.  Whatever  may  be  the  possibilities  in 
the  far  reaches  of  eternal  life,  we  see  upon  the  earth  small 
souls  in  all  degrees  growing  alongside  the  capacious  spirits 
through  whom  supremely  God  reveals  himself. 

What  is  true  of  individuals  is  true  of  groups  of  men.  Races 
are  not  equal.  We  know  why  no  more  than  we  can  tell  why 
one  son  in  a  family  may  be  a  genius  and  his  twin  a  dunce. 
Only  the  fact  is  clear  that  some  races,  put  anywhere  on  earth, 
will  at  once  construct  a  stable  government  and  live  by  law. 
But  others,  after  unimpeded  tenure  of  a  continent  for  ages, 
cannot  unaided  establish  a  settled  government  at  all.  What- 
ever the  solution  of  this  puzzling  problem,  the  fact  is  clear. 
The  strong  and  the  weak,  in  individuals  and  races,  must  some-, 
how  live  together  on  the  earth.  Moreover,  we  all  are  in- 
volved in  this  complication.  None  is  so  weak  as  not  to  bear, 
in  some  aspect  of  his  life,  the  relationship  of  strength  to 
some  one  weaker  still.  Consider  the  children,  the  tendrils 
of  whose  slender  vines  reach  up  for  the  sustenance  of  our 
maturer  lives.  Recall  our  friends,  who  in  giving  us  their 
trust  give  us  enormous  power  over  their  welfare  and  their 
happiness. 

This  relationship  of  the  strong  to  the  weak  claims  our 
special  attention  because  it  has  been  the  fruitful  mother  of 
the  crudest  tragedies  of  human  life.  How  has  God  stood  it 
through  the  .ages,  watching  the  strong  squeeze  the  weak  like 

44 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-c] 

grape  clusters  into  their  chalices  that  they  might  drink  blood 
like  wine !  One  cannot  easily  open  his  Bible  without  running 
upon  some  outburst  of  indignation  over  this  tragic  sin.  Moses 
rips  his  dignities  and  titles  off  that  he  may  not  even  indirectly 
share  in  Pharaoh's  oppression  of  his  helpless  countrymen. 
Nathan  falls  like  lightning  upon  David  because,  being  very 
rich  in  sheep,  he  has  robbed  his  neighbor  of  his  one  ewe 
lamb.  Isaiah  cries :  "What  mean  ye  that  ye  crush  my  people 
and  grind  the  face  of  the  poor?"  (Isa.  3:15).  Amos  cries: 
"Ye  kine  of  Bashan  .  .  .  that  oppress  the  poor,  that  crush 
the  needy"  (Amos  4:1).  And  when  the  Master  comes,  with 
what  overflowing  wrath  does  he  denounce  strong  men  who 
rob  widows'  houses  and  cover  their  crime  with  the  pretense 
of  prayer ! 

II 

If  one  asks,  then,  what  Christianity  proposes  as  the  solution 
of  this  difficult  relationship,  Paul  tersely  sums  up  the  spirit  of 
j  the  whole  New  Testament :  "We  that  are  strong  ought  to  bear| 
'  the  infirmities  of  the  weak  and  not  to  please  ourselves"  (Rom. 
15:1).  The  strong  bearing  the  burdens  of  the  weak — was 
ever  a  more  revolutionary  principle  announced?  The  weak, 
the  undefended,  the  immature,  have  always  been  the  prey  of 
the  strong.  They  have  been  ruthlessly  cut  up,  strewn  in,  and 
plowed  under  to  make  a  richer  soil  for  the  strong  to  grow  in. 
The  saddest  chapters  in  history  recount  the  story  of  the 
strong,  wringing  the  weak  dry  of  their  toil  and  flinging  them 
heedlessly  aside,  or  displaying  their  power  in  shameless  cruel- 
ties, as  when  a  Roman  patron  crucified  two  thousand  slaves 
beside  a  highway  to  satisfy  his  whim. 

Indeed,  this  right  of  the  strong  over  the  weak  has  been  in 
our  day  asserted  as  the  true  teaching  of  science  and  philos- 
ophy. "The  struggle  for  existence"  and  "the  survival  of  the 
fittest"  have  been  interpreted  to  suit  the  strong  and  have  been 
erected  into  a  theory  of  conduct  for  all  life.  So  far  from 
seeing  any  law  of  usefulness  running  through  creation,  men 
have  seen  only  a  law  of  grasping  selfishness  and  bitter  war. 
The  tall  tree  in  the  forest  does  not  solicitously  serve  the  sap- 
ling at  its  base.  It  stamps  the  sapling  out,  steals  its  suste- 
nance, blots  out  its  sun,  rots  it  back  into  the  forest  mold,  that 
the  strong  tree  may  be  stronger  yet.  The  horticulturist  when 
he  finds  a  few  blooms  upon  his  rosebush  and  many  stunted 

45 


LIII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

ones,  does  not  pinch  back  the  finer  flowers  that  the  nipped 
and  feeble  ones  may  have  a  chance.  He  amputates  the  weak. 
.  He' is  no  democrat  seeking  the  welfare  of  all  the  people.  He 
is  an  aristocrat  sacrificing  the  common  run  to  the  finest  speci- 
mens. He  does  not  plead  for  humanity ;  he  seeks  the  super- 
man. Such  a  philosophy  of  life,  alike  in  the  theory  and  prac- 
tice, has  in  recent  years  been  tragically  influential,  and  its 
consequences  are  written  in  lines  of  fire  across  the  world. 
So  Nietzsche  reviles  the  Gospel  for  the  very  reason  that 
makes  us  praise  it :  "Christianity  is  the  one  great  curse,  the 
one  great  spiritual  corruption."  And  Nietzsche  can  truly  claim 
that  large  areas  of  human  life,  personal,  economic,  and  politi- 
cal, are  founded  upon  principles  the  very  opposite  of  Chris- 
tian. Empires  for  conquest,  industrial  systems  for  exploita- 
tion, individual  ambition  rising  on  stepping  stones  of  fallen 
folk — how  much  of  life  is  based  upon  the  pagan  principle 
that  the  weak  must  bear  the  burdens  of  the  strong  and  must 
not  please  themselves ! 

The  scientific  answer  to  this  heathen  doctrine  is  being 
written  by  the  experts.  In  Kropotkin's  "Mutual  Aid,"  in  the 
works  of  Novikov,  we  see  Greek  meet  Greek  in  the  scientific 
field.  The  fact  is  that  even  a  forest  represents  cooperation 
quite  as  much  as  it  represents  conflict,  and  the  story  of  animal 
life  shows  clearly  that  capacity  for  mutual  aid,  far  more  than 
brute  strength,  has  made  species  fit  to  survive.  The  bees  have 
lasted ;  the  ichthyosaurus  is  gone.  Conflict  and  carnage  are 
in  nature,  but  the  development  of  altruism  is  an  integral  part 
of  the  story  from  the  beginning  and  the  higher  the  scale  of 
existence  rises,  the  less  does  brute  force  count  and  the  more 
life's  progress  depends  upon  cooperation.  A  few  facts  in  the 
origin  of  life  may  seem  to  favor  the  exploitation  of  the  weak 
by  the  strong.  The  whole  course  of  evolving  life,  which  has 
lifted  spiritual  powers  into  preeminence  and  has  made  life's 
continuance  and  worth  depend  upon  good  will  and  mutual  aid, 
is  overwhelmingly  against  it. 

The  Christian  Gospel,  however,  did  not  wait  for  the  battle- 
dore and  shuttlecock  of  scientific  argument.  It  leaped  at  once 
by  the  insight  of  love  to  the  heart  of  the  matter.  Many 
things  in  so-called  Christianity  can  be  dispensed  with — dog- 
mas, institutions,  rituals,  of  which  when  they  are  gone  the 
world  will  cry,  "Good  riddance!"  But  the  principle  that  the 
highest  strength  should  be  put  at  the  service  of  the  lowliest  f 

46 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-c] 

weakness  is  a  central  pillar  of  the  Gospel,  around  which  if 
any  blind  Samson  ever  winds  antagonistic  arms  and  breaks  it 
down,  all  the  Gospel  will  come  clattering  into  ruin.  "Though 
he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  he  tbecame  poor  that  ye 
through  his  poverty  might  become  rich" — no  truer  summary 
of  the  Master's  spirit  does  the  New  Testament  contain.  And 
wherever  that  spirit  has  come  to  its  proper  utterance  in  his 
followers,  this  ministry  of  strength  to  weakness  is  its  charac- 
teristic expression.  To  be  sure,  the  prevention  of  weakness, 
perpetuating  itself  through  evil  heredity  and  circumstance, 
is  primary,  but  the  weak  who  are  already  here  are  not,  in  the 
Christian  program,  to  be  left  to  hopelessness.  Father  Damien 
going  out  to  serve  the  lepers ;  John  Howard  visiting  the  vilest 
prisons  in  Christendom,  passionate  for  the  redemption  of  the 
criminals ;  Mackay  laying  his  life  upon  Uganda  and  breath- 
ing a  new  spirit  into  depraved  and  barbarous  folk ;  William 
Booth  plunging  into  "Darkest  England"  and  seeking  a  way 
out  for  squalid  millions — these  are  the  proper  fruits  of  the 
Christian  Gospel.  And  so  far  has  this  principle  at  last  ceased 
to  be  a  paradox  and  become  a  principle  of  sane  government 
that  the  elder  Lord  Asquith  has  said:  "The  test  of  every  civ-/ 
ilization  is  the  point  below  which  the  weakest  and  most  unfor- 
tunate are  allowed  to  fall." 

Ill 

We  may  well  consider,  therefore,  some  of  the  facts  which 
make  this  central  principle  of  Christian  conduct  seem  con- 
vincing. For  one  thing,  if  we  regard  human  history  in  the 
large  it  is  clear  that,  strong,  and  weak  alike,  we  all  are  coming 
up  together  from  the  same  primitive  conditions,  and  that  we 
u'ho  in  any  sense  arc  strong  are  simply  those  zvho  are  a  little 
li'ay  ahead.  Our  strength  does  not  belong  to  us  in  fee  simple! 
to  possess  and  to  use  as  we  will.  We  are  the  custodians  ofj 
the  gains  of  the  whole  race  for  the  sake  of  all  mankind. 

An  English-speaking  Christian  may  be  tempted  to  look 
down  upon  a  cannibal  as  a  hopeless  specimen  of  a  degenerate 
race.  Why  spend  strength  upon  such  a  wretch?  Our  con- 
descension might  be  chastened  by  these  words  of  Jerome,  the 
Christian  scholar  of  the  fourth  century:  "When  I  was  a  boy 
living  in  Gaul,  I  saw  the  Scottish  people  in  Britain  eating 
human  flesh  and  though  they  had  plenty  of  cattle  and  sheep  at 

47 


[III-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

their  disposal,  yet  they  would  prefer  a  ham  of  the  herdsman 
or  a  slice  of  the  female  breast  as  a  luxury."  Is  it  any  special 
merit  of  ours  that  we,  whose  ancestors  were  also  cannibals, 
have  now  a  little  ahead  of  our  brethren  climbed  out  of  that 
horrible  morass? 

Or  a  modern  man,  heir  to  the  scientific  labors  of  these  last 
few  generations,  reads  with  horror  a  missionary's  story  like 
"Mary  Slessor  of  Calabar."  The  blasting  superstitions  of 
witchcraft  and  demon  worship  fall  with  such  tragic  incidence 
upon  the  African  tribes  where  Miss  Slessor  toiled,  that  one 
wonders  whether  such  expenditure  of  consecrated  strength  on 
such  degraded  feebleness  can  be  worth  while.  But  a  pause 
is  given  to  our  doubt  when  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  century  in 
our  own  racial  history,  we  read  the  words  of  Montaigne : 
"The  day  will  never  come  when  the  common  ruck  of  men  will 
cease  to  believe  in  witchcraft.  If  the  lawyers  and  judges  of 
our  modern  sixteenth  century  France,  men  trained  to  sift 
evidence  and  learned  in  science,  can  be  so  far  deceived  as  to 
send  thousands  of  victims  to  their  death  for  impossible 
crimes,  how  can  we  ever  hope  that  the  common  man  will 
avoid  these  errors?"  Is  supercilious  pride  particularly  befit- 
ting us,  who  so  recently  have  escaped  slavery  to  a  supersti- 
tion which  still  shackles  thousands  of  God's  children  upon 
the  earth? 

There  is  no  end  to  such  comparisons.  All  races,  however 
superior  they  now  may  seem,  are  but  the  advance  guard  of  an 
emerging  humanity.  If  we  are  tempted  to  think  meanly  of 
ignorance  because  we  are  educated,  let  us  read  again  a  couplet 
from  our  own  literature  only  a  few  centuries  behind  us : 

"There  was  a  wight  who  such  a  scholar  was 
That  he  the  letters  in  a  book  could  read." 

If  we  shudder  at  the  sacrifice  of  children  by  their  parents  in 
heathen  cults,  let  us  recall  that  our  fathers  in  Britain  used  to 
put  young  girls  in  wicker  baskets  and  run  swords  through 
them,  that  they  might  tell  from  the  way  the  blood  flowed  what 
the  will  of  the  gods  was.  One  principle  is  given  us  in  Scripture 
so  simple  and  so  human  that  no  fair-minded  man  can  escape 
its  grip :  we  are  bound  to  show  mercy  to  folk  who  still  struggle 
in  difficulties  where  we  ourselves  have  been :  "Love  ye  there- 
fore the  sojourner;  for  ye  were  sojourners  in  the  land  of 
Egypt"  (Deut.  10:19). 

48 


THE  STRONG  A\'D  THE  WEAK          [III-c] 

If  in  a  family  two  children  grew  up  together,  could  their 
relations  be  regulated  on  any  other  principle  than  that  which 
Christianity  suggests?  One  of  the  children  comes  first  to 
the  age  of  poise,  self-mastery,  and  power.  The  other  still  is 
infantile.  If  the  older  should  use  his  superiority  to  mistreat 
the  younger,  with  what  indignant  admonition  would  the  father 
speak !  "You  two  are  growing  together  in  the  same  home,"  so 
he  would  say,  "and  you  are  a  little  way  ahead.  That  is  not 
greatly  to  your  credit;' you  had  the  first  start.  This  maturity 
of  growth  was  not  given  you  for  self-inflation,  but  for  serv- 
ice. You  hold  it  in  trust  for  the  whole  family's  sake." 

No  good  home  could  be  run  on  any  other  principle.  Nor 
can  God  run  his  world  otherwise.  Strength  ought  to  be  put 
at  the  service  of  weakness,  for  in  all  possession  of  privilege 
and  power  we  are  trustees  of  the  advance  gains  of  the  race 
for  the  sake  of  the  whole  human  family. 

IV 

A  second  reason  has  always  undergirded  this  Christian 
principle  of  putting  the  best  strength  at  the  service  of  the  low- 
liest weakness.  The  weak  are  worth  serving.  The  Master's 
life  is  based  upon  this  faith  and  is  aglow  with  its  meaning. 
If  at  an  auction  of  musical  instruments  a  battered  violin  with 
dusty  body  and  sagging  strings  had  been  bid  for  in  cents  as  a 
worthless  article;  if  some  one  should  pick  up  the  instrument, 
dust  it,  look  at  the  maker's  name,  bid  it  up  into  the  hundreds 
of  dollars,  and  when  pressed  bid  higher  still;  if  word  went 
round  that  the  man  was  Kreisler,  that  Fritz  Kreisler  wanted 
the"  violin,  no  matter  what  it  cost ;  how  the  estimate  of  the 
instrument's  worth  would  rise !  So  Jesus  put  new  value  into 
despised  men.  Boys  in  a  far  country,  rotten  with  harlotry 
and  sunk  to  low  estate  among  the  swine — all  the  world  called 
them  lost  and  good  for  nothing.  But  the  Master  bid  his  life 
for  them.  Let  the  cost  be  the  crown  of  thorns,  the  spear,  the 
Cross ;  the  Master  counted  personality,  however  ruined,  worth 
it  all.  Wherever  the  Gospel  has  gone,  its  characteristic  fruit- 
age has  been  service  for  all  sorts  of  men  in  the  faith  that  all 
sorts  of  men  are  worth  serving. 

This  Christian  confidence  in  the  worth  and  latent  possibility 
of  all  mankind  is  not  a  faith  neatly  to  be  proved  in  theory, 
but  in  practice  it  has  been  justified  upon  a  scale  that  only  the 

49 


[HI-cJ  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

(most  optimistic  could  have  dreamed.  The  spread  of  civiliza- 
tion justifies  it.  The  Greeks  despised  the  barbarians  as  an 
inferior  breed,  until  Alexander  the  Great  conquered  the  bar- 
barians and  brought  Greek  and  non-Greek  culture  into  vital 
contact.  Then  it  was  discovered  that  the  barbarians  could 
learn  anything  that  the  Greeks  had  to  teach,  and  within  a  few 
centuries  the  center  of  the  world's  culture  had  shifted  from 
Athens  to  Alexandria.  So  within  our  own  time  great  nations 
and  races  long  despised  have  awakened' out  of  sleep  and  have 
displayed  an  aptitude  for  progress,  a  capacity  for  learning  all 
that  the  most  advanced  races  know  and  for  pushing  farther 
still  the  boundaries  of  enterprise,  that  ought  to  humble  any 
racial  pride.  The  spread  of  democracy  justifies  it.  Democ- 
racy means  not  only  political  copartnership ;  it  means  the 
right  of  all  men  everywhere  to  all  the  privileges  the  race  has 
won.  It  means  popular  access  to  education,  leisure,  economic 
self-control.  It  means  copartnership  rather  than  autocracy  in 
industry  as  well  as  in  government.  But  all  this  has  under- 
neath it  an  amazing  venture  of  faith  in  human  nature  and 
in  the  power  of  whole  classes  of  the  population  long  despised 
to  achieve  intelligence,  self-mastery,  and  the  cooperative  spirit. 
Wherever  democracy  succeeds  in  any  realm,  the  triumph  of 
Christian  faith  in  the  capacities  of  lowly  folk  is  seen. 

Perhaps  most  of  all  the  missionary  movement  has  justified 
the  Christian  faith  in  the  worth  of  the  weak.  When  Charles 
Darwin  sent  his  subscription  to  the  Christian  orphanage  on 
Tierra  del  Fuego,  he  wrote:  "The  success  of  the  Tierra  del 
Fuego  Mission  is  most  wonderful  and  shames  me,  as  I  always 
prophesied  utter  failure.  ...  I  certainly  should  not  have 
predicted  that  all  the  missionaries  in  the  world  could  have 
done  what  has  been  done."  As  glass  is  made  of  sand,  so 
repeatedly  out  of  the  dull,  opaque  material  of  low  castes  and 
degraded  races  the  Christian  Gospel  has  made  the  most  trans- 
parent sainthood.  Into  the  office  of  the  dean  of  one  of  the 
greatest  American  universities  walked  recently  a  man  from 
one  of  the  South  Sea  Islands,  whose  cheeks  were  scarred  with 
the  mutilations  of  primitive  savage  rites.  He  was  eight 
years  old  before  he  had  seen  a  white  man.  He  was  asking 
now  for  a  course  in  advanced  Semitics  that  he  might  trans- 
late the  Old  Testament  from  its  original  sources  into  his  own 
tongue.  He  had  passed  in  a  single  lifetime  from  the  lowest 
pit  of  barbarism  to  the  highest  intellectual  privileges  of  the 

50 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK  [III-c] 

modern  world.  When  the  Master  announced  the  direction 
of  his  ministry  "unto  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,"  who 
could  have  foreseen  the  wide  areas  of  human  life  in  which 
that  revolutionary  principle  would  be  justified?  For  this  is 
the  Christian  conviction  which  underlies  the  greatest  practical 
venture  of  social  faith  in  the  face's  history :  that  the  outcast, 
•downtrodden,  and  despised  are  worth  saving,  that  every  son  of 
man,  however  ignorant  and  bestial,  is  not  beyond  redemption 
to  sanity  and  virtue ;  that  there  is  no  personal  or  social  in- 
feriority that  need  be  final ;  and  that,  therefore,  the  weak  by 
their  potential  capacity  to  become  strong  have  a  right  to  the 
service  of  strength. 


Another  fact  underlies  this  Christian  principle.  Any 
strength  that  does  not  serve  weakness  is  itself  doomed.  Why 
should  Midas  in  his  palace  care  for  Tom-all-alone  in  his 
cellar?  asks  Dickens;  and  he  answers:  "There  is  not  an  atom 
of  Tom's  slime,  not  a  cubic  inch  of  any  pestilential  gas  in 
which  he  lives,  not  one  obscenity  or  degradation  about  him 
but  shall  work  its  retribution."  We  read  the  story  of 
strength's  oppression  of  weakness  with  pity  for  the  weak.  But 

!no  cruelty  of  the  mighty  toward  the  feeble  ever  worked  agony 
for  the  feeble  any  more  certainly  than  it  worked  ruin  for  the 
strong.  "For  the  oppression  of  the  poor,  for  the  sighing  of 
the  needy,  now  will  I  arise,  saith  the  Lord" — such  is  the  habit- 
ual accent  of  the  Scripture.  That  judgment  of  Scripture  is 
I  everywhere  carried  out  in  history.  No  retributions  surpass) 
'the  penalties  for  misused  strength.  "Who  reckless  rules  right 
soon  may  hope  to  rue."  After  Louis  XVI  comes  Robespierre; 
after  the  Czar  comes  Lenin;  after  industrial  despotism  comes 
revolution.  The  slave  trade,  from  its  sources  in  Africa  to  its 
consummation  in  Christendom,  was  as  cruel  and  apparently 
as  safe  an  exploitation  of  the  weak  by  the  strong  as  history 
knows.  But  all  the  agony  of  the  enslaved  was  matched  by  the 
punishment  of  the  enslavers,  and  Lincoln's  words  have  appli- 
cation far  beyond  the  immediate  circumstances  that  gave  them 
birth :  "Yet,  if  God  wills  that  .  .  .  every  drop  of  blood  drawn 
with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  by  another  drawn  with  the  sword, 
as  was  said  three  thousand  years  ago,  so  still  it  must  be 
said,  'The  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true  and  righteous 
altogether.' " 

Si 


[III-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Nor  is  this  inevitable  incidence  of  penalty  upon  the  strong 
for  any  wrong  they  do  the  weak  an  arbitrary  matter.  The 
reason  for  it  is  wrought  deeply  into  the  texture  of  human 
life.  We  are  all  bound  up  together,  rich  and  poor,  learned 
and  ignorant,  sick  and  well,  good  and  bad,  in  one  bundle  of 
life.  No  harm  can  fall  on  any  which  does  not  in  the  end 
affect  all.  No  isolating  walls  can  keep  the  ills  of  the  weak 
from  reaching  the  strong.  Carlyle  tells  us  of  an  Irish  widow 
who  in  Edinburgh  with  three  helpless  children  sought  help 
in  vain,  fell  ill  of  typhus,  and,  infecting  seventeen  others,  died. 
"The  forlorn  Irish  widow,"  cries  Carlyle  grimly,  "applies  to 
her  fellow  creatures,  'Behold  I  am  sinking  bare  of  help.  I 
am  your  sister ;  one  God  made  us.  You  must  help  me.'  They 
answer,  'No,  impossible :  thou  art  no  sister  of  ours !'  But 
she  proves  her  sisterhood ;  her  typhus  kills  them;  they  actu- 
ally were  her  brothers  though  denying  it." 

This  inevitable  sharing  of  the  strong  in  the  ills -of  the  weak- 
est and  most  helpless  people  with  whom  they  deal  has  now 
been  stretched  to  take  in  all  mankind,  and  every  day  the  inter- 
meshing  relationships  grow  more  intimate  and  unescapable. 
The  laying  of  the  first  Atlantic  cable  was  heralded  everywhere 
as  opening  a  new  era  in  man's  life;  it  was  one  of  the  most 
stirring  bits  of  news  that  Stanley  told  Livingstone  in  the 
heart  of  Africa;  it  woke  Whittier  to  rhapsody: 

"For  lo,  the  fall  of  Ocean's  wall, 

Space  mocked  and  time  outrun ; 
And  round  the  world  the  thought  of  all 
Is  as  the  thought  of  one." 

But  the  relationship  of  all  races,  advanced  and  backward, 
Christian  and  non-Christian,  high  and  low,  which  the  laying 
of  the  cable  thus  foretokened  is  more  than  a  welcome  gain. 
It  is  a  portentous  fact.  All  ignorance  everywhere,  all  sin, 
superstition,  ill  will,  disease,  and  blasting  poverty  are  now  a 
peril  everywhere.  No  one  is  safe  till  all  are  safe.  No  privi- 
lege is  secure  till  all  possess  it.  No  blessing  is  really  owned 
until  it  universally  is  shared.  That  service  to  "one  of  the 
least  of  these  my  brethren,"  so  far  from  being  a  superfluous 
ideal,  is  an  ineradicable  law  of  life,  is  indicated  by  this  basic 
fact :  in  the  last  analysis  self-preservation  depends  upon  it. 
For  whenever  the  strong  neglect  or  oppress  the  weak,  they 
must  face  that  same  principle  at  the  heart  of  the  Eternal  which 

52 


THE  STRONG  AND  THE  WEAK          [III-c] 

found  impressive  utterance  on  the  lips  of  Caliph  Omar :  "By 
God !  he  that  is  weakest  among  you  shall  be  in  my  sight  the 
strongest  until  I  have  vindicated  for  him  his  rights ;  but  him 
that  is  strongest  will  I  treat  as  the  weakest  until  he  complies 
with  the  laws." 

VI 

Because  strong  and  weak  emerge  together  toward  the  light 
and  the  strong  for  the  sake  of  all  have  been  trusted  with  the 
lead;  because  the  weak  are  potentially  strong  and  the  release 
of  their  life  from  weakness  into  strength  is  their  right;  be- 
cause no  ill  can  rest  upon  the  weak  that  does  not  also  smite 
the  strong ;  for  such  reasons  the  strong  should  bear  the  bur- 
dens of  the  weak.  But  not  all  these  reasons  together  plumb 
the  depth  of  the  Christian  motive.  The  strong  should  bear 
the  burdens  of  the  weak,  because  they,  too,  are  weak.  At  first 
we  said  that  none  is  so  weak  as  not  to  bear  the  relationship  of 
strength  to  some  one  weaker  still ;  it  is  equally  true  that  none 
is  so  strong  as  not  to  bear  the  relationship  of  weakness  to 
some  one  stronger  yet. 

We  have  called  Paul's  principle  paradoxical;  but  in  one 
institution  it  always  has  been  the  fundamental  law.  Who  is 
king  of  the  home?  Not  the  father,  however  strong,  nor  the 
mother,  however  important.  The  baby  is  king  of  the  home. 
He  is  feebleness  incarnate,  yet  if  he  cries  all  are  attent;  if  he 
is  ill  no  science  is  too  skilled  to  serve  him,  no  sacrifice  of 
comfort  too  prolonged  to  meet  his  needs.  At  home  the 
mother's  thoughts,  in  business  the  father's  ambitions  center  in 
the  cradle.  In  this  basic  institution  of  human  life  we  that  are 
strong  do  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak  and  do  not  please 
ourselves.  Each  of  us  had  that  done  for  him.  It  were  a 
shame  if  we  could  not  live  for  others  on  a  principle  without 
which  we  ourselves  never  could  live  at  all. 

Nor  have  we  escaped  dependence  upon  superior  strength 
because  we  now  are  grown  to  adult  years.  Strong  in  some 
respects,  how  weak  we  are  in  others !  A  thousand  human 
ministries  from  family  and'  friends  support  us  in  o.ur  frail- 
ties. Without  such  constant  sustenance  of  superior  strength 
we  could  not  live  for  a  day  in  worthiness,  happiness,  and 
peace.  Moreover,  when  we  think  of  standing  in  the  presence 
of  the  Living  God  all  conceij:  of  independent .  strength  van- 
ishes utterly.  The  world  looks  up  to  a  man  and  cries, 

53 


[III-c]  THE  MEAMNG  OF  SERl'ICE 

"Strong!"  But  when  he  looks  at  himself  he  knows  that  he 
is  dependent  upon  a  mercy  for  which  he  cannot  pay  and  on  a 
power  that  he  must  receive  with  thankfulness,  not  earn  with 
pride.  He  goes  out  to  serve  the  immature,  the  handicapped, 
the  backward,  the  oppressed,  with  no  condescending  superi- 
ority. He  feels  himself  in  a  fellowship  of  mutual  dependence 
upon  a  strength  greater  than  his  own.  He  is  too  heavily  in- 
debted to  One  who  lavished  the  highest  gifts  upon  the  low- 
liest needs  to  find  condescension  possible.  He  signs  all  his 
service  as  our  fathers  signed  their  letters,  "I  am,  sir,  your 
most  obliged  and  humble  servant." 


54 


CHAPTER  IV 

The  Abundant  Life 

DAILY    READINGS 

That  the  love  of  pleasure  is  one  of  the  chief  enemies  of  an 
unselfish  life  is  a  commonplace  of  experience.  We  all  wish 
to  be  happy,  and  we  are  not  wrong  in  wishing  it.  "A  happy 
man  or  woman,"  says  Robert  Louis  Stevenson,  "is  a  better 
thing  to  find  than  a  five  pound  note.  He  or  she  is  a  radiating 
focus  of  good  will  ;•  and  their  entrance  into  a  room  is  as  though 
another  candle  had  been  lighted."  But  what  makes  life  really 
happy?  Let  us  consider  a  few  of  the  elements,  distinctly  not 
selfish,  which  we  at  once  recognize  as  necessary  to  abiding 
happiness. 

Fourth  Week,  First  Day 

This  is  my  commandment,  that  ye  love  one  another, 
even  as  I  have  loved  you.  Greater  love  hath  no  man  than 
this,  that  a  man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends.  Ye  are 
my  friends,  if  ye  do  the  things  which  I  command  you.  No 
longer  do  I  call  you  servants;  for  the  servant  knoweth 
not  what  his  lord  doeth:  but  I  have  called  you  friends;  for 
all  things  that  I  heard  from  my  Father  I  have  made  known 
unto  you. — John  15:12-15. 

Friends  are  necessary  to  a  happy  life.  When  friendship 
deserts  us  we  are  as  lonely  and  helpless  as  a  ship,  left  by  the 
tide  high  upon  the  shore ;  when  friendship  returns  to  us,  it 
is  as  though  the  tide  came  back,  gave  us  buoyancy  and  free- 
dom, and  opened  to  us  the  wide  places  of  the  world.  Proteus 
in  "Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona"  says:  "I  to  myself  am  dearer 
than  a  friend."  How  clearly  such  a  man  has  blocked  from 
his  life  one  of  the  great  avenues  of  happiness !  But  friend- 
ship is  essentially  unselfish ;  its  proper  voice  is  heard  in  such 
words  as  Jesus  spoke  to  his  disciples  that  last  night  at  the 
Table.  To  be  sure,  friendship  can  be  perverted  and  carica- 
tured, but  even  in  its  low  forms  some  self-forgetfulness 

55 


[IV-2]  THE  MEAXING  OF  SERVICE 

creeps  in,  and  in  its  high  ranges,  where  it  brings  the  richest 
joy,  it  is  nearest  to  pure  unselfishness.  Evidently  a  happy 
life  cannot  be  all  self-seeking. 

O  Lord  of  Love,  in  whom  alone  I  live,  kindle  in  my  soul 
Thy  fire  of  love;  give  me  to  lay  myself  aside,  and  to  think 
of  others  as  I  kneel  to  Thee.  For  those  whom  Thou  hast 
given  me,  dear  to  me  as  my  own  soul,  Thy  best  gift  on  earth, 

I  ask  Thy  blessing.    If  they  are  now  far  away,  so  that  I  can- 
not say  loving  words  to  them  today,  yet  be  Thou  near  them, 
give  them  of  Thy  joy,  order  their  ways,  keep  them  from  sick- 
ness, from  sorrow,  and  from  sin,  and  let  all  things  bring  them 
closer  'to  Thee.     If  they  are  near  me,  give  us  wisdom  and 
grace  to  be  true  helpers  of  one  another,  serving  in  love's  serv- 
ice all  day  long.    Let  nothing  come  between  us  to  cloud  our 
perfect  trust,  but  help  each  to  love  more  truly,  more  stead- 
fastly, more  unselfishly.     Amen. — Samuel  McComb. 

Fourth  Week,  Second  Day 

For  yourselves  know  how  ye  ought  to  imitate  us:  for 
we  behaved  not  ourselves  disorderly  among  you;  neither 
did  we  eat  bread  for  nought  at  any  man's  hand,  but  in  labor 
and  travail,  working  night  and  day,  that  we  might  not 
burden  any  of  you:  not  because  we  have  not  the  right,  but 
to  make  ourselves  an  ensample  unto  you,  that  ye  should 
imitate  us.  For  even  when  we  were  with  you,  this  we 
commanded  you,  If  any  will  not  work,  neither  let  him 
eat.  For  we  hear  of  some  that  walk  among  you  disor- 
derly, that  work  not  at  all,  but  are  busybodies.  Now  them 
that  are  such  we  command  and  exhort  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  with  quietness  they  work,  and  eat  their  own 
bread.  But  ye,  brethren,  be  not  weary  in  well-doing. 

II  Thess.  3:  7-13. 

One  of  Paul's  most  engaging  qualities  was  his  sturdy  self- 
respect,  his  love  of  economic  independence,  his  pride  in  his 
handicraft.  Honest  and  useful  work  in  self-support,  with 
something  left  over  with  which  to  help  others,  was  necessary 
to  his  happiness.  "Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,"  he 
wrote  to  the  Ephesians,  "but  rather  let  him  labor,  working 
with  his  hands  the  thing  which  is  good,  that  he  may  have  to 
give  to  him  that  needeth."  Any  normal  man  understands 
Paul's  feeling  in  this  respect.  Idleness  is  the  most  deadly 
boredom  that  life  can  know,  and  hard  work,  honestly  done, 

56 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  [IV-a} 

with  just  pride  in  efficiency  and  skill,  is  life's  fundamental 
blessing.  Deprive  us  of  it  for  many  months  and  we  are  as 
restless,  unsatisfied,  and  unhappy  as  a  homesick  boy  away 
from  his  own  household.  But  good  work  is  sel f -expenditure  ;  1 
it  is  the  forthputting  of  personality  in  creative  labor.  Manifestly, 
happiness  has  in  it  requirements  of  self-investment  as  well 
as  of  self-regard. 

Accept  the  work  of  this  day,  O  Lord, -as  we  lay  it  at  Thy 
feet.  Thou  knowest  its  imperfections,  and  we  know.  Of  the 
brave  purposes  of  the  morning  only  a  few  have  found  their 
fulfilment.  We  bless  Thee  that  Thou  art  no  hard  taskmaster, 
ivatching  grimly  the  stint  of  work  we  bring,  but  the  Father 
and  Teacher  of  men  who  rejoices  with  us  as  we  learn  to  work. 
We  have  naught  to  boast  before  Thee,  but  we  do  not  fear  Thy 
face.  Thou  knowest  all  things  and  Thou  art  love.  Accept 
every  right  intention,  however  brokenly  fulfilled,  but  grant 
that  ere  our  life  is  done  we  may  under  Thy  tuition  become 
true  master  workmen,  who  know  the  art  of  a  just  and  valiant 
life.  Amen. — Walter  Rauschenbusch. 

Fourth  Week,  Third  Day 

First,  I  thank  my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you  all, 
that  your  faith  is  proclaimed  throughout  the  whole  world. 
For  God  is  my  witness,  whom  I  serve  in  my  spirit  in  the 
gospel  of  his  Son,  how  unceasingly  I  make  mention  of 
you,  always  in  my  prayers  making  request,  if  by  any 
means  now  at  length  I  may  be  prospered  by  the  will  of 
God  to  come  unto  you.  For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may 
impart  unto  you  some  spiritual  gift,  to  the  end  ye  may  be 
established;  that  is,  that  I  with  you  may  be  comforted  in 
you,  each  of  us  by  the  other's  faith,  both  yours  and  mine. 
— Rom.  i:  8-12. 

Of  course  Paul  wished  to  see  Rome.  Paul  was  an  imperial 
man  and  Rome  was  the  imperial  city.  Paul's  happiness  con- 
sisted in  part  in  this  very  fact,  that  he  had  large  interests,  and 
was  not  shut  up  to  provincial  enthusiasms.  Wherever  good 
and  evil  met  in  combat,  wherever  great  business  was  afoot, 
wherever  Christ  was  building  up  his  Church,  Paul's  heart  was 
engaged.  How  much  of  happiness  depends  upon  such  breadth 
of  interest!  Joy  is  the  tingling  sense  of  being  fully  alive, 
and  that  cannot  come  to  narrow  minds,  absorbed  by  selfish 
concerns.  They  are  pent,  cooped  up,  suffocated ;  they  lack  the 

57 


[IV-4J  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

expansion  of  life  which  comes  with  large  interests  and  gener- 
ous enthusiasms.  But  an  expanded  life  is  of  the  very  essence 
of  unselfishness.  How  much  of  the  throbbing  joy  which  runs 
through  the  whole  New  Testament  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
Christ  had  taken  many  narrow,  provincial  spirits  and  had 
widened  them  to  great  hopes,  liberal  interests,  and  large 
devotions ! 

/  am  weary  of  my  island  life,  O  Spirit;  it  is  absence  from 
Thee.  I  am  weary  of  the  pleasures  spent  upon  myself,  weary 
of  that  dividing  sea  which  makes  me  alone. 

I  look  out  upon  the  monotonous  waves  that  roll  between  me 
and  my  brother,  and  I  begin  to  be  in  want;  I  long  for  the 
time  when  there  shall  be  no  more  sea. 

Lift  me  on  to  'the  mainland,  Thou  Spirit  of  humanity,  unite 
my  heart  to  the  brotherhood  of  human  souls.  Set  my  feet  "in 
a  large  room" — in  a  space  where  many  congregate.  Place  me 
on  the  continent  of  human  sympathy  where  I  can  find  my 
brother  by  night  and  by  day — where  storms  divide  not,  where 
waves  intervene  not,  where  depths  of  downward  distance 
drozvn  not  love. 

Then  shall  the  food  of  the  far  country  be  swine  husks;  then 
shall  the  riot  and  the  revel  be  eclipsed  by  a  new  joy — the 
music  and  dancing  of  the  city  of  God.  Amen. — George 
Matheson. 

Fourth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

These  things  have  I  spoken  unto  you,  while  yet  abiding 
with  you.  But  the  Comforter,  even  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom 
the  Father  will  send  in  my  name,  he  shall  teach  you  all 
things,  and  bring  to  your  remembrance  all  that  I  said  unto 
you.  Peace  I  leave  with  you;  my  peace  I  give  unto  you: 
I  not  as  the  world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  Let  not  your 
'heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  fearful. — John  14:25-27. 

Even  as  the  Father  hath  loved  me,  I  also  have  loved 
you:  abide  ye  in  my  love.  If  ye  keep  my  commandments, 
ye  shall  abide  in  my  love;  even  as  I  have  kept  my  Father's 
commandments,  and  abide  in  his  love.  These  things  have 
I  spoken  unto  you,  that  my  joy  may  be  in  you,  and  that 
your  joy  may  be  made  full. — John  15:9-11. 

Read  these  verses  to  observe  one  thing :  the  Master's  earn- 
est desire  to  share  with  his  disciples  the  best  blessings  he  had. 
;  His  peace,  his  love,  his  joy — he  did  not  wish  to  keep  them 

58 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  fIV-5] 

to  himself.  And  undoubtedly  -the  more  he  shared,  the  morei 
he  possessed,  for  spiritual  goods  always  multiply  by  division.} 
Are  we  not  facing  here  a  basic  truth  in  our  lives?  Beforc\ 
^^<e  can  fully  enjoy  anything  we  must  share  it.  Even  a  good 
book,  good  music,  beautiful  scenery — anything  is  enjoyed  the 
more  when  we  divide  with  others  the  experience.  But  this 
prerequisite  for  full  happiness  is  distinctly  unselfish.  No  man 
can  achieve  this  special  brand  of  abiding  satisfaction  by  any 
manipulating  of  self-regard  alone. 

''All  who  joy  would  win  . 
Must  share  it.     Happiness  was  born  a  twin." 

Everlasting  Father,  I  beseech  Thee  to  enable  me  to  love 
Thee  with  all  my  heart  and  soul  and  strength  and  mind,  and 
my  neighbor  as  myself.  • 

Help  me  to  be  meek  and  lowly  in  heart.    Sweeten  my  temper* 
and  dispose  me  to  be  kind  and  helpful  to  all  men.    Make  me\ 
kind  in  thought,  gentle  in  speech,  generous  in  action.     Teach 
me  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive;  that  it  is 
better  to  minister  than  to  be  ministered  unto ;  better  to  forget 
myself  than  to  put  myself  forivard. 

Deliver  me  from  anger  and  from  envy;  from  all  harsh 
thoughts  and  unlovely  manners.  Make  me  of  some  use  in 
this  world;  may  I  more  and  more  forget  myself  and  work 
the  work  of  Him  who  sent  me  here;  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord.  Amen. — W.  Angus  Knight. 

Fourth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

For  this  cause  I  bow  my  knees  unto  the  Father,  from 
whom  every  family  in  heaven  and  on  earth  is  named,  that 
he  would  grant  you,  according  to  the  riches  of  his  glory, 
that  ye  may  be  strengthened  with  power  through  his  Spirit 
in  the  inward  man;  that  Christ  may  dwell  in  your  hearts 
through  faith;  to  the  end  that  ye,  being  rooted  and 
grounded  in  love,  may  be  strong  to  apprehend  with  all  the 
saints  what  is  the  breadth  and  length  and  height  and 
depth,  and  to  know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth, 
knowledge,  that  ye  may  be  filled  unto  all  the  fulness;' 
of  God. — Eph.  3:14-19. 

Here  surely  was  a  source  of  happiness  in  Paul's  life,  with- 
out which  he  would  have  been  utterly  bereft :  he  had  spiritual 
resources  within  him  on  which  even  in  his  Roman  prison  he 

59 


[IV-6]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

could  fall  back  for  re-creation  and  refreshment.  Sooner  or 
later  all  men  come  to  the  need  of  such  inner  wells  of  living 
water.  Trouble  falls  upon  us  and  by  it  we  are  driven  in  upon 
ourselves.  The  days  arrive  when  happiness  cannot  spring 
from  outward  circumstance;  we  must  discover  it  within,  and 
carry  it  with  us  amid  forbidding  conditions.  But  a  selfish 
man  never  can  find  such  sources  of  joy  within  himself.  Pas- 

)cal  was  right :  "The  man  who  lives  only  for  himself  hates 
nothing  so  much  as  being  alone  with  himself."  A  life  in- 
wardly rich  and  resourceful  must  be,  as  Paul  prayed,  "rooted 
and  grounded  in  love."  Alas !  for  a  man,  thrown  back  by 
fickle  fortune  on  himself,  who  discovers  in  his  own  narrow 
cupboard  nothing  to  live  on  except  the  resentments,  the  irri- 
tabilities, the  peevish  tempers,  the  jealousies,  the  exaggerated 
self-regard,  the. disappointed  ambitions  of  a  selfish  heart! 

O  God  of  patience  and  consolation,  give  MS  such  good  will, 
'  ive  beseech  Thee,  that  with  free  hearts  u'e  may  love  and  serve 

Thee  and  our  brethren;  and,  having  thus  the  mind  of  Christ, 
•!  may  begin  heaven  on  earth,  and  exercise  ourselves  therein 
'  till  that  day  -when  heaven  where  love  abideth  shall  seem  no 

strange  habitation  to  us.    For  Jesus  Christ's  sake.    Amen. — 

Christina  G.  Rossetti. 

Fourth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

For  I  am  already  being  offered,  and  the  time  of  my 
departure  is  come.  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have 
finished  the  course,  I  have  kept  the  faith:  henceforth 
there  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness,  which 
the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  to  me  at  that 
day;  and  not  to  me  only,  but  also  to  all  them  that  have 
loved  his  appearing. — II  Tim.  4:6-8. 

In  these  farewell  words  of  Paul  there  is  the  unmistakable 
accent  of  a  victorious  and  joyful  spirit.  And  this  is  the  secret 
of  his  joy:  he  has  lived  his  life  for  a  cause  that  is  worth 
living  and  dying  for.  The  deep  satisfactions  of  a  purposeful 
existence,  dedicated  to  a  worthy  end,  remain  with  him  to  the 
death.  His  final  note  is  that  of  a  happy  warrior:  "I  have 
fought  the  good  fight."  Compare  with  this  the  retrospect  of 
a  self -centered,  frittered  life !  The  selfish  man  may  have 
been  carnal,  deserving  Carlyle's  terrific  comment  on  the 
eighteenth  century,  "Soul  extinct;  stomach  well  alive!"  He 

60 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  [IV-?] 

may  have  been  cruel,  like  Milton's  "sons  of  Belial,  flown 
with  insolence  and  wine."  Or  he  may  have  been  only  a 
languid,  pulseless,  self-centered  man.  But  in  any  case  he 
has  missed  the  supreme  satisfaction  of  life.  "This  is  now  to 
be  said,"  wrote  Alfred  the  Great,  "that  whilst  I  live  I  wish  to 
live  nobly,  and  after  life  to  leave  to  the  men  who  come  after 
me  a  memory  of  good  works." 

Help  us,  O  Lord,  to  live  out  on  the  open  sea  of  Thine  all- 
reaching  love,  and  to  move  with  the  currents  of  Thy  power ; 
to  fill  life's  sails  with  the  fr.esh  winds  of  spiritual  truth  and 
freedom;  to  sail  up  and  down  time's  glorious  coast,  carrying 
a  heaven-scented  cargo  of  better  life  to  men;  to  be  conscious 
less  of  effort  and  more  of  power;  to  see  the  needy  men  on 
the  shore  and  bring  them  the  bread  of  life;  trusting  always 
that  when  the  sails  grow  gray  and  the  spars  and  planks  begin 
to  groan  in  the  gale,  Heaven's  safe  harbor  may  welcome  in 
peace  the  Captain  of  the  Abundant  Life.  Amen. — George 
A.  Miller. 

Fourth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Is  it  not  plain  from  this  week's  study  that  he  who  seeks  for 
happiness  without  unselfishness  has  missed  his  road?  Friends, 
useful  work,  expanded  interests,  the  delights  of  shared  ex- 
perience, inward  spiritual  resources,  and  a  worthy  purpose  at 
life's  center — such  unselfish  things  as  these  are  of  the  very 
substance  of  a  joyful  and  abundant  life. 

All  wise  men  in  all  ages  have  perceived  that  love  and  life 
thus  belong  together,  and  all  of  us  do  indulge  in  more  or 
less  unselfishness.  But  our  service  is  fluctuating  and  un- 
steady. When  the  Master  takes  possession  of  us,  straightway 
the  principle  of  service  begins  to  flower  out.  It  widens  its 
horizons  to  take  in  all  the  world ;  it  deepens  its  vision  to  take 
in  the  most  unlovely  and  the  lost ;  it  enlarges  its  scope  to 
include  even  our  enemies;  it  surrounds  itself  with  majestic 
motives  in  the  love  of  God,  and  at  last  a  real  Christian  stands 
unfolded,  with  the  spirit  of  service  grown  to  a  "lordly  great 
compass"  within.  Such  a  development  is  not  unhappy;  it  is 
the  very  blossom  and  fruitage  of  joy.  So  the  Master  said: 

I  am  the  door;  by  me  if  any  man  enter  in,  he  shall  be 
saved,  and  shall  go  in  and  go  out,  and  shall  find  pasture. 
The  thief  cometh  not,  but  that  he  may  steal,  and  kill,  and 

61 


[IV-cj  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

i destroy:  I  came  that  they  may  have  life,  and  may  have  it 
'abundantly. — John  10:9,  10. 

O  God,  Author  of  the  world's  joy,  Bearer  of  the  world's 
pain,  make  us  glad  that  we  are  men  and  that  we  have  inher- 
ited the  world's  burden;  deliver  us  from  the  luxury  of  cheap 
melancholy;  and,  at  the  heart  of  all  our  trouble  and  sorrow, 
let  unconquerable  gladness  dwell;  through  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. — Henry  S.  Nash. 

COMMENT    FOR-  THE    WEEK 


Such  a  dedicated  use  of  strength  in  service  as  we  have  been 
considering  plainly  involves  self-sacrifice.  George  Eliot  in 
"Romola"  says  of  Tito:  "He  was  to  be  depended  on  to  make 
any  sacrifice  that  was  not  unpleasant."  Such  a  costless  amia- 
bility is  common,  but  seriously  to  put  service  for  all  sorts  of 
folk  at  the  center  of  one's  purpose  involves  readiness  for 
self-renunciatioi^  which  hurts.  We  run  at  once,  therefore, 
upon  that  stumbling  block  which  more  than  any  other  trips 
people  up  who  start  to  be  of  use.  We  want  happiness  for 
ourselves;  we  want  for  ourselves  a  full,  rich,  vibrant  life; 
and  this  clamorous  self-regard  seems  desperately  at  war  with 
self-sacrifice. 

Of  all  arresting  words  of  Jesus,  none  is  stranger  than  his 
declaration  of  this  seeming  conflict  between  self-regard  and 
self-renunciation.  So  significant  is  it  that  oftener  than  any- 
other  single  thing  he  said  it  is  referred  to  in  the  gospels : 
i  "Whosoever  would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it:  and  whosoever 
shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it."  (Matt.  16:25. 
cf.  Matt.  10 :  39 ;  Mark  8 :  34,  35  ;  Luke  9 :  23,  24 ;  Luke  17  :  33  ; 
John  12:25.)  He  too,  then,  is  in  love  with  happiness;  he 
too  is  seeking  for  his  followers  a  tingling,  copious,  satisfying 
life.  The  fourth  gospel  expressly  states  his  purpose:  "I  have 
come  that  they  may  have  life  and  have  it  to  the  full."  And 
the  New  Testament  is  radiant  with  the  consciousness  of  hav- 
ing found  the  secret  of  abundant  living.  But  whether  in  the 
Master  himself  or  in  those  who  closely  followed  him,  one 
everywhere  finds  a  strange  prescription  for  their  overflowing 
joy.  If  you  wish  blessedness,  head  for  service;  if  you  wish 
the  crown  of  joy,  take  up  the  cross  of  sacrifice;  if  life  is  to 

62 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  [IV-c] 

be  yours,  lose  your  life  in  other  lives  and  in  causes  that  have 
won  your  love.  So  far  from  seeing  abundant  living  and  sac- 
rificial service  as  mutually  exclusive,  they  see  one  as  the  road 
to  the  other. 

However  reluctant  we  may  be  to  base  our  daily  conduct 
upon  this  principle,  however  the  subtle  suspicion  may  intrude 
that  the  paradox  is  not  quite  true,  there  are  times  when  its 
truth  is  evident.  Crises  come,  sudden,  unforeseen,  that  shake 
men  down  into  the  deeper  levels  of  experience,  where  there 
is  no  keeping  life  except  through  life's  surrender.  "If  I  save 
my  life,  I  lose  it,"  is  the  motto  engraved  upon  a  statue  of  Sir 
Galahad  in  Ottawa.  These  are  the  last  words  of  a  youth, 
in  whose  memory  the  statue  stands,  who,  seeing  two  skaters 
fall  through  the  ice,  plunged  in  and  was  drowned  in  rescuing 
them.  Any  such  crisis  makes  evident  to  a  courageous  spirit, 
as  it  did  to  this  youth,  the  truth  of  the  Master's  words.  Dur- 
ing the  Great  War  who  has  not  wonderingly  watched  men 
and  women  finding  their  joy  and  glory  in  self-renouncing 
devotion  to  a  cause?  Multitudes  of  folk  faced  selfish  ease 
and  terrific  sacrifice,  and  chose  sacrifice.  Not  for  all  the 
world  in  such  an  hour  of  need  would  they  have  chosen  any- 
thing besides. 

"Though  love   repine  and   reason   chafe, 

There  came  a  voice  without  reply, 
'Tis  man's  perdition  to  be  safe 
If  for  the  truth  he  ought  to  die." 

Nevertheless,  while  this  principle  of  Jesus  is  thus  written 
in  sympathetic  ink  upon  the  hearts  of  men  so  that  the  acid  of 
a  world  catastrophe  does  bring  it  out  where  all  can  read,  it 
pales  again  in  common  days.  Men  find  it  easier  to  die  for  a 
cause  in  a  crisis  than  to  live  for  it  in  ordinary  hours.  They 
do  not  really  believe  that  self-realization  through  self-sur- 
render is  a  universal  law  of  life.  But  the  Master  saw  this 
principle  not  as  an  occasional  motive  in  a  tragic  hour,  but 
as  the  common  property  of  all  hours.  He  saw  that  as  surely 
as  a  seed  must  give  itself  up  or  else  fail  of  increase,  so  only 
in  sacrificial  service  can  men  find  the  secret  of  abundant  life 
(John  12:24). 

II 

When  we  seek  thus  to  understand,  as  the  Master  did,  the 
relationship  between  self-realization  and  self-sacrifice,  we 

63 


[IV-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

need  first  of  all  to  consider  what  the  self  is  of  which  we  speak. 
Children  in  the  nursery  play  with  a  fascinating  toy,  which 
superficially  seen  appears  to  be  a  single  box,  but  which  on 
investigation  reveals  box  within  box,  and  ever  more  boxes 
still,  each  drawn  from  the  interior  of  another  until  the  floor 
is  littered  with  them.  So  multiple  and  complicated  a  thing 
is  the  human  self.  When,  therefore,  one  cries,  I  must  care 
for  myself,  the  answer  conies,  Which  self?  This  smallest, 
meanest  self,  that  last  of  all  comes  up  from  the  interior  of 
your  life?  This  infinitesimal  creature  of  narrow,  clamorous, 
egoistic  needs?  To  live  for  that  self  is  to  lose  real  life  utterly. 
For  all  the  while  there  is  the  larger  possible  self,  that  may 
inclose  and  glorify  the  smaller,  compounded  of  family  love, 
of  friendship,  of  devotion  to  neighborhood  and  country,  of 
loyalty  to  human  kind,  and  to  good  causes  on  which  man's 
weal  depends.  To  live  for  that  larger  self  is  to  live  the 
abundant  life. 

Consider  how  true  it  is  that  our  personalities  are  thus  a  tel- 
escoping series  of  larger  and  smaller  selves!  A  young  girl 
begins  her  life  petted,  pampered,  spoiled.  Her  innermost  and 
narrowest  self  is  the  only  one  she  knows.  Then  love  draws 
her  out.  She  lives  not  quite  so  much  within  that  narrow  self 
as  in  the  larger  area  of  another's  life,  which  to  her  has  become 
dearer  than  her  own.  Then  children  come  to  increase  the 
acreage  of  her  spirit.  Some  day  in  that  home  toddling  feet 
go  down  to  the  edge  of  the  valley  of  the  shadow.  Her  own 
life  is  in  the  balance  then.  Not  something  outside  her  stands 
hesitating  there  upon  the  valley's  brink;  it 'is  part  of  her  very 
being;  and  when  her  child's  feet  come  clambering  up  the 
slippery  slope  again  it  is  her  own  life  that  has  come  back  to 
her.  Expanded  thus  by  experience  she  looks  with  increasing 
sympathy  and  understanding  eyes  upon  humanity.  She  sees, 
as  Chaucer  sang: 

"Infinite  been  the  sorwes  and  the  teres 
Of  olde  folk  and  folk  of  tendre  yeres." 

In  hex  awakened  womanhood  she  spends  herself  in  unselfish 
service  that  this  earth  may  be  a  more  decent  place  for  the 
family  of  God.  Philanthropy,  good  government,  the  Christian 
cause — these  things  become  part  of  herself.  When  she  prays, 
"Thy  Kingdom  come"  she  means  it.  She  can  understand  now 
what  Milton  felt :  "I  conceive  myself  to  be  not  as  mine  own 

64 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  [IV-c] 

person,  but  as  a  member  incorporate  into  that  truth  whereof 
I  am  persuaded."  If  now  some  friend  who  knew  her  coddled 
youth  should  say,  "See !  you  have  lost  your  old  self !"  would 
she  not  answer?  "Thank  God,  I  have  lost  it!  I  have  lost  my 
life  and  found  it." 

The  paradoxical  principle  of  Jesus,  therefore,  that  self- 
surrender  is  necessary  to  self-realization  is  true  in  everyday 
experience.  We  all  have  this  series  of  possible  selves,  from 
the  meanest  egoism  that  like  a  fledgling  bird  yammers  with 
open  mouth  for  the  world  to  feed  it,  to  that  great  self  that 
can  embrace  within  its  sympathy  and  incorporate  into  its  life 
the  welfare  of  the  world.  The  fundamental  question  is, 
Which  self  shall  be  subjugated  to  the  other?  Washington 
could  have  saved  his  self,  his  Virginia  planter  self,  in  ease 
and  comfort,  but  so  he  would  have  lost  his  real  self,  Father 
of  the  Nation.  The  Master  could  have  saved  his  self,  his 
carpenter  of  Nazareth  self,  redeeming  words  unspoken,  com- 
passionate love  unexpressed,  the  Cross  unborne,  but  so  he 
would  have  lost  his  real  self,  Savior  of  the  World.  We  can 
save  ourselves,  our  infinitesimal  and  futile  selves,  in  unsac- 
rificial  ease.  But  what  we  have  really  done  is  to  throw  away 
the  greatness  of  our  lives. 

Self-sacrifice  is  not,  therefore,  a  bitter  amputation  of  our 
personalities.  It  is  the  enlargement  of  our  personalities  to 
comprehend  the  interests  of  others.  It  is  finding  life,  dis- 
guised as  losing  it.  We  overpass  the  boundary  that  sepa- 
rates /  from  You;  we  learn  to  think  and  live  in  terms  of  We 
and  Our,  and  lo !  we  have  found  our  greater  selves.  Some- 
times the  preacher  pleads  for  self-regard.  Care  for  your- 
selves, he  says.  Your  personality  is  the  most  sacred  entrust- 
ment  God  has  given  you.  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man  if  he 
gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  self?"  And  sometimes 
the  preacher  pleads  for  self-denial.  You  must  sacrifice  your- 
selves, he  says.  What  is  self  that  it  should  stand  athwart  the 
progress  of  God's  good  causes  in  the  world?  No  one  has 
learned  the  rudiments  of  Christian  living  who  has  not  learned 
to  deny,  abnegate,  crucify  self.  So  do  self-regard  and  self- 
denial  appear  in  conflict.  Nor  is  there  any  solution  of  this 
dilemma,  except  as  we  learn  to  incorporate  our  life  by  love 
into  the  life  of  others,  until  we  live  in  them  and  they  in  us. 
Then  self-sacrifice  and  self-realization  flow  together.  What 
has  become  of  the  conflict  between  self-regard  and  self-denial 

65 


[IV-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

in  a  great  friendship,  where  two  persons  blend?  When  I  care 
for  myself,  I  am  caring  for  my  friend,  and  when  I  think 
of  my  friend,  I  am  thinking  of  myself.  We  live  in  each 
other's  lives.  So  Mrs.  Browning  sings  of  her  husband: 

"The  widest  land 

Doom  takes  to  part  us,  leaves  thy  heart  in  mine 
With  pulses  that  beat  double.     What  I  do 
And  what  I  dream  include  thee,  as  the  wine 
Must  taste  of  its  own  grapes." 

Indeed,  let  any  generous  man  ask  himself  where  his  self  is, 
and  how  surprising  is  the  answer !  It  is  not  alone  where  his 
body  is.  It  is  where  his  children  dwell.  What  strikes  them 
strikes  him.  It  is  where  his  friends  are.  What  befalls  them 
befalls  him.  It  is  where  with  difficulty  causes  forge  ahead, 
on  which  his  heart  is  set.  Every  large-hearted  man  is  scat- 
tered over  all  creation.  Where  was  David  when,  safe  in  the 
watchtower,  he  cried,  "O  my  son,  Absalom !  would  God  I  had 
died  for  thee,  O  Absalom,  my  son"?  Where  was  Livingstone, 
when  he  cried  of  Africa,  "All  I  can  add  in  my  loneliness  is, 
may  Heaven's  rich  blessing  come  down  on  every  one — Ameri- 
can, English,  Turk — who  will  help  to  heal  the  open  sore  of  the 
world"?  Personality  is  marvelously  extensible.  Like  an 
alarm  system  with  a  central  registering  bell  and  many  sensi- 
tive wires  stretching  everywhither,  so  is  a  human  person.  Wre 
are  not  narrowly  delimited  things ;  we  are  spiritual  beings, 
capable  of  infinite  expansion,  able  to  live  ourselves  out  in 
other  people  and  in  causes  that^have  claimed  our  love.  No 
man  is  complete  in  himself ;  all  that  he  cares  for  is  part  of 
him.  The  glory  of  the  Master  is  that  he  so  lived  out  his  life 
in  the  lives  of  all  mankind  that  he  could  say  and  mean  it, 
"Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even 
these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me."  This  is  self-sacrifice ;  but  it  is 
also  self-realization.  It  is  the  effulgence  of  life  into  its  full 
size  and  glory,  even  though  it  be  true  that 

"He  who  lives  more  lives  than  one 
More  deaths  than  one  must  die." 

Ill 

In  spite  of  the  acknowledged  truth  just  presented,  one  may 
be  tempted  still  to  plead  the  case  in  favor  of  self-regard.  The 
necessity  and  duty  of  caring  for  our  individual  selves,  however 

66 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  tlV-c] 

narrow  one  may  call  them,  are  imperative.  A  solid  and  im- 
portant truth  lies  in  Shakespeare's  words  in  "Henry  V," 
"Self-love,  my  liege,  is  not  so  vile  a  sin  as  self-neglecting." 
To  till  a  field  for  wheat  that  one  selfishly  may  eat  it  all,  while 
starving  neighbors  look  on  unhelped,  is  bad  enough.  But  to 
let  a  good  field  run  to  weeds  untilled  ,for  any  purpose,  is  still 
worse.  A  man's  first  responsibility  is  his  own  individual  life, 
to  till  it,  enlarge  it,  to  enrich  it,  to  make  it  bear  all  that  it 
will  yield.  The  summary  of  the  law  and  the  prophets  tells  us 
to  love  ourselves  well  and  then  to  love  others  just  as  much 
(Luke  10:  27). 

Because  this  is  a  Christian's  primary  responsibility,  as  it  is 
any  other  man's,  a  charge  of  insincerity  is  sometimes  lodged 
against  the  preacher  and  his  congregation  when  self-sacrifice 
is  exalted  in  the  church.  "See !"  cries  the  scoffer,  "All  your 
words  about  self-renouncing  service  are  hypocrisy.  You  and 
all  your  parishioners,  like  everybody  else,  want  good  things 
for  yourselves.  Homes,  food,  clothes,  books,  music,  leisure,  the 
elemental  creature  comforts  and  the  luxuries  that  minister  to 
fullness  of  life — you  want  all  these,  and  you  propose  to  have 
them  if  you  can.  .In  what,  then,  do  you  differ  from  any 
other  men?" 

To  such  an  objection  this  parable  may  be  an  answer:  The 
Sea  of  Galilee  and  the  Dead  Sea  are  made  of  the  same  water. 
It  flows  down,  clear  and  cool,  from  the  heights  of  Hermon  and 
the  roots  of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon.  The  Sea  of  Galilee  makes 
beauty  of  it,  for  the  Sea  of  Galilee  has  an  outlet.  It  gets  to 
give.  It  gathers  in  its  riches  that  it  may  pour  them  out  again 
to  fertilize  the  Jordan  plain.  But  the  Dead  Sea  with  the 
same  water  makes  horror.  For  the  Dead  Sea  has  no  outlet. 
It  gets  to  keep.  That  is  the  radical  difference  between  selfish 
and  unselfish  men.  We  all  do  want  life's  enriching  blessings ; 
we  ought  to ;  they  are  divine  benedictions.  But  some  men 
get  to  give,  and  they  are  like  Galilee ;  while  some  men  get  to 
keep  and  they  are  like  the  brackish  water  that  covers  Sodom 
and  Gomorrah.  "We  Florentines,"  says  one  of  George  Eliot's 
characters,  "live  scrupulously  that  we  may  spend  splendidly." 

The  Master's  principle,  then,  that  only  by  self-surrender  can 
we  win  through  to  self-fulfilment,  does  not  mean  that  the 
individual  self  is  unimportant.  It  means  that  the  individual 
self  is  but  a  fragment  of  the  whole  personality,  and  if  it  is  to 
come  to  its  fullness,  must  expand  to  take  in  its  brethren. 

67 


[IV-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

"Love  to  one's  neighbor,"  says  Professor  Todd,  "does  not 
mean  the  annihilation  of  one's  self,  but  simply  the  recognition 
that  self  and  neighbor  are  fundamentally  one." 

One  corollary  of  this  truth  is  clear.  The  selfish  man  is  not 
a  complete  man;  he  is  not  whole,  normal,  healthy.  He  is  a 
truncated  section  of  himself.  He  may  think  himself  a  natural, 
sensible,  hard-headed,  practical  person.  The  truth  is  that  he 
is  sick. 

Indeed,  our  insistence  that  unselfishness  and  abundant  life 
involve  each  other  and  to  be  meanly  selfish  is  to  renounce  the 
glory  of  "living,  is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  symptoms 
of  invalidism  and  the  symptoms  of  selfishness  are  the  same. 
No  one  suffers  long  with  a  debilitating,  nagging  illness  with- 
out being  tempted  to  think  wholly  of  his  narrowest  self.  His 
mind  tends  to  wind  inward  with  circular,  moody  thoughts 
about  himself.  He  is  absorbed  in  his  own  needs.  Querulous, 
touchy,  waspish,  wanting  attention,  impatient  when  he  does 
not  receive  it,  discontented  when  he  does — unless  it  be  spiritu- 
ally conquered,  such  is  the  mood  of  illness. 

Consider  then  the  road  by  which  a  man  moves  out  from 
this  lamentable  state  toward  health  again !  He  begins  to 
worry  less  and  less  about  himself.  He  gains  some  surplus 
energy  of  thought  to  spend  on  some  one  besides  himself.  He 
feels  in  time  a  dawning  capacity  to  be  happy  in  the  happiness 
of  others.  At  length  he  eats  and  sleeps  again  with  relish  and 
delight,  and  sheds  his  returning  radiance  on  all  arpund.  Rising 
witWn  him  like  a  tossing  mill  race,  he  feels  returning  vigor, 
fretting  to  be  let  loose  upon  some  mill  wheel.  He  wants  to 
do  something  for  somebody.  At  last,  his  sickness  gone,  hap- 
pily objective,  not  moodily  subjective,  thinking  of  others,  not 
worrying  about  himself,  spending  abroad  his  surplus  vigor, 
not  hoarding  it  greedily  for  his  depleted  strength,  he  goes 
out  into  life,  a  dynamic  man  come  back  to  health  again.  By 
as  much  as  he  expends  himself,  giving  more  than  he  gets, 
making  his  contributions  offered  greater  than  his  contributions 
levied,  he  shows  the  marks  of  a  well  man.  For  selfishness  is 
sickness,  and  overflowing  usefulness  is  spiritual  health  and 
abounding  life. 

IV 

The  necessary  relationship  between  self-surrender  and  self- 
fulfilment  is  seen  clearly  in  one  more  basic  fact.  Existence  is 

68 


THE  ABi'XDAXT  LIFE  [IV-c] 

given  to  us  all  to  start  with ;  our  problem  is  somehow  out  of 
existence  to  make  life.  Existence  is  an  entrustment ;  life  is\ 
an  achievement.  Now  all  human  experience  is  unanimous  that 
real  life  can  come  only  when  a  worthy  purpose  runs  down1 
through  the  center  of  existence,  to  give  it  meaning.  This  is 
plain  when  one  tests  its  truth  by  the  lives  of  the  greatest  men. 
As  on  raised  letters,  so  on  the  outstanding  characters  of  his- 
tory even  blind  folk  can  read  the  truth  that  a  worthy  purpose 
is  essential  to  abundant  life.  Amid  infinite  variety  in  details 
one  attribute  is  always  present  when  a  great  man  comes :  he 
has  centered  his  existence  around  some  aim  concerning  which 
he  feels  like  Paul,  "This  one  thing  I  do."  The  one  intolerable 
life  from  which  all  high-minded  men  must  shrink,  as  Mat- 
thew Arnold  says  his  father  shrank  from  it,  is  a  frittered 
existence : 

"Not  without  aim  to  go  round 
In  an  eddy  of  purposeless  dust, 
Effort  unmeaning  and  vain." 

Nor  is  this  attitude  the  peculiarity  of  the  most  capacious 
souls  alone.  We  all  may  have  it.  The  Mississippi  River  makes 
the  central  plains  of  the  United  States  a  rich  and  fruitful 
place.  From  the  Rockies  to  the  Gulf,  calling  in  tributaries 
from  every  side,  it  has  organized  the  life  of  a  continent.  What, 
then,  has  made  the  beauty  and  productiveness  of  some  small 
valley,  whose  woods  and  farms,  though  quite  unheralded,  are 
a  benediction  to  the  few  who  know  them?  There,  too,  a 
stream  with  tributary  rivulets  has  organized  and  fructified 
the  valley's  life.  So  a  central,  serviceable  purpose  is  the  secret 
of  abundant  living,  whether  in  continental  men  or  in  obscure 
and  lowly  folk.  No. man  lives  at  all  until  he  lives  for  some- 
thing great. 

To  many,  such  a  purposeful  and  dedicated  life  seems  stern, 
forbidding.  We  want  pleasure:  "the  loose  beads  with  no 
straight  string  running  through."  We  cannot  wake  and  sleep 
and  spend  the  hours  between,  we  say,  concentered  on  a  seri- 
ous aim.  But  a  serviceable  purpose  does  not  thus  somberly 
becloud  life  atjd  exclude  its  free-hearted  happiness.  It  rather 
is  the  one  element  in  life  that  can  put  foundation  under  hap- 
piness. When  one  goes  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco 
he  does  not  tensely  sit  through  the  week,  saying  with  delib- 
erate insistence,  I  must  go  to  San  Francisco.  His  purpose  to 

69 


[IV-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

reach  his  destination  does  not  exhaust  his  thought.  He  thinks 
of  a  thousand  other  things ;  his  delight  in  friendship  and 
scenery  upon  the  way  is  unaffected  and  spontaneous ;  no  single 
happy  or  interesting  experience  need  he  miss.  But  all  the 
same  his  major  purpose  controls  his  action;  nothing  is  allowed 
to  keep  him  from  going  on  to  San  Francisco ;  and  when  he 
reaches  his  destination  all  that  has  happened  on  the  way — 
the  pleasant  fellowships,  the  gorgeous  scenery — has  been  but 
incidental  to  his  dominant  desire  which  brought  him  to  his 
journey's  end. 

So  whatever  may  be  his  special  calling,  through  a  real  Chris- 
tian's life  runs  a  controlling  purpose  to  be  of  use.  It  does  not 
substitute  itself  for  other  things ;  it  permeates  everything. 
Its  subtle  secret  influence  flows  through  all  the  rest.  It  shuts 
out  no  wholesome,  happy  experience  of  good  report.  Rather 
it  includes  them  all,  and  irradiates  them  with  significance  and 
worth.  Such  a  man  alone  is  truly  happy,  for  pleasure  never 
lasts  when  it  is  made  the  main  business  of  life.  It  has  abid- 
ing quality  only  when  it  is  founded  upon  a  worthy  purpose. 
As  a  life  that  is  all  vacation  knows  no  vacation,  since  the  very 
essence  of  a  holiday  lies  in  having  hard  work  upon  all  sides 
of  it,  so  a  life  that  is  all  pleasure-seeking  knows  no  pleasure. 
For  the  essence  of  all  abiding  pleasure  is  to  be  mainly  busy 
about  some  serviceable  task. 

Too  long  have  the  pallid  and  tubercular  figures  of  saints  in 
medieval  cathedrals  symbolized  the  meaning  of  Christian  life ! 
Consider  rather  a  man  like  Henry  Drummond.  Few  men  have 
been  more  mastered  by  a  central  purpose.  He  lived  to  bring 
men  into  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ.  The  influence  of  his 
preaching  and  his  personal  interviews  upon  the  student  life 
of  Scotland  abides  long  after  he  has  gone.  His  biographer 
says  that  writing  the  story  of  his  life  is  "like  writing  the 
record  of  a  fragrance."  Yet  as  to  the  glow  and  buoyancy  of 
his  daily  life,  let  a  friend  testify : 

"He  fished,  he  shot,  he  skated  as  few  can,  he  played  cricket ; 
he  would  go  any  distance  to  see  a  fire  or  a  football  match.  He 
had  a  new  story,  a  new  puzzle,  or  a  new  joke  every  time  he 
met  you.  Was  it  on  the  street?  He  drew  you  to  watch  two 
message  boys  meet,  grin,  knock  each  other's  hats  off,  lay  down 
their  baskets  and  enjoy  a  friendly  chaffer  of  marbles.  Was 
it  on  the  train  ?  He  had  dredged  from  the  bookstall  every 
paper  and  magazine  that  was  new  to  him.  ...  If  it  was  a 

70 


THE  ABUNDANT  LIFE  tiv-ci 

rainy  afternoon  in  a  country  house,  he  described  a  new  game, 
and  in  five  minutes  everybody  was  playing  it.  If  it  was  a 
children's  party,  they  clamored  for  his  sleight  of  hand.  .  .  , 
The  name  he  went  by  among  younger  men  was  The  Prince." 

As  a  brook  flows  down  from  the  high  hills  sparkling  in  the 
sunlight,  gathering  itself  in  friendly  pools,  playing  among  the 
shallows  near  the  shore,  or  running  out  into  deep  places  where 
all  is  cool  and  still,  so  spirits  like  Drummond's  flow  among 
men.  But  whether  they  seem  serious  or  happy  they  are  mas- 
tered by  one  thing :  the  gravitation  from  the  high  hills  whence 
they  came.  Their  flow  is  all  one  way:  a  testimony  to  the 
fullness  and  beauty  of  Christian  life  and  to  the  sufficiency  of 
the  Master  from  whom  it  comes. 

Once  more,  therefore,  losing  the  smaller  self  in  a  larger  self, 
organized  around  a  serious  desire  to  serve  mankind;  is  self- 
renunciation  indeed,  but  it  is  self-fulfilment,  too.  The  man 
who  achieves  it  possesses  an  expansive  personality  which  is 
the  secret  of  abiding  joy.  Even  when  disasters  fall,  he  is  not 
undone  as  selfish  men  must  be,  for  his  smallest  self  is  not  the 
whole  of  himself,  and  what  happens  to  his  smallest  self  leaves 
still  the  larger  areas  of  his  life  untouched.  Like  soldiers  who 
fall  wounded  upon  the  battlefield,  he  himself  may  suffer,  but 
still  rejoice  exceedingly  to  see  his  cause  advanced. 

Paradoxical  as  it  may  seem,  therefore,  the  Master  was 
speaking  from  a  rich  and  real  experience  of  fact  when  he  said, 
"Whosoever  will  be  great  among  you,  let  him  be  your  min- 
ister, and  whosoever  will  be  chief  among  you  let  him  be  your 
servant."  To  be  sure,  the  natural  grain  of  the  human  wood 
runs  another  way  altogether.  Whosoever  would  be  great 
among  you,  let  him  conquer  or  rule  or  gain  wealth ;  let  him 
be  served  by  multitudes  of  slaves,  by  millions  of  subjects,  by 
the  labor  of  the  poor — such  is  the  idea  which  underlies  the 
larger  part  of  human  history.  The  Master  turned  topsy-turvy 
this  inveterate  conviction  that  a  man's  glory  consists  in  serv- 
ice received.  He  substituted  in  its  place  the  amazing  propo- 
sition that  man's  glory  consists  in  the  extent  and  quality  and 
unselfishness  of  service  rendered.  And  none  who  ever  dared 
to  live  upon  the  Master's  principle  has  denied  its  truth.  The 
way  of  the  Cross  is  the  way  of  overflowing  life.  "He  that 
will  take  that  crabbit  tree,  and  will  carry  it  cannily,"  said  Sam- 
uel Rutherford,  "will  yet  find  it  to  be  such  a  burden  as  wings 
are  to  a  bird  and  sails  to  a  boat." 

71 


CHAPTER  V 

Self-Denial 

DAILY    READINGS 

Our  study  during  the  last  week  centered  about  the  Master's 
principle  that  in  the  expenditure  of  life  lies  the  saving  of  it. 
There  are  times,  however,  when  this  truth  is  anything  but 
obvious.  A  mountain's  summit  may  glisten  in  the  sunlight, 
while  its  lower  altitudes  are  all  beclouded.  So  this  ideal  of 
finding  life  through  losing  it  may  shine  in  its  loftiest  exhibi- 
tions, as  in  the  character  of  Christ,  while,  on  our  common 
levels,  it  is  obscure  and  difficult  of  access.  Self-denial  at 
times  seems  not  to  be  glorious  and  life-giving  at  all.  We 
shall  try,  this  week,  to  deal  with  the  meaning  of  such  self- 
denial.  Let  us  in  our  daily  readings  deal  with  the  fact  of  it. 

Fifth  Week,  First  Day 

And  if  thy  right  eye  causeth  thee  to  stumble,  pluck  it 
out,  and  cast  it  from  thee:  for  it  is  profitable  for  thee  that 
one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and  not  thy  whole  body 
be  cast  into  hell.  And  if  thy  right  hand  causeth  thee  to 
stumble,  cut  it  off,  and  cast  it  from  thee :  for  it  is  profitable 
for  thee  that  one  of  thy  members  should  perish,  and  not 
thy  whole  body  go  into  hell. — Matt.  5 :  29,  30. 

One  elemental  form  of  self-denial,  demanded  by  a  life  of 
Christian  service,  is  the  resolute  rejection  of  positive  evils 
that  mar  character  and  therefore  hurt  usefulness.  "There 
never  was  a  bad  man,"  said  Edmund  Burke,  "that  had  ability 
for  good  service."  How  much  this  kind  of  self-denial  costs, 
anyone  who  has  ever  seriously  tried  it  knows.  We  must 
continually  resist  the  down-drag  of  popular  habits,  to  the  prac- 
tice of  which  the  majority  of  folk  consent.  For  the  majority, 
however  we  must  commit  to  it  the  arbitrament  of  political 
affairs,  is  almost  sure  to  be  wrong  about  any  matter  that 
requires  fine  discrimination.  Put  to  popular  vote  the  prefer- 
ence between  ragtime  and  Chopin's  nocturnes,  the  cinema  and 
Shakespeare,  cheap  love-stories  and  the  English  classics,  and 

72 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-2] 

is  there  any  question  what  the  majority  would  decide?  So  to 
be  a  good  Christian  is  an  achievement,  won  only  by  resistance 
to  the  pull  of  popular  tastes  and  common  practices.  It  costs 
to  be  among  those  whose  characters  lift  up  against  the  gravi- 
tation of  commonly  accepted  evil.  "The  world  is  upheld," 
said  Emerson,  "by  the  veracity  of  good  men :  they  make  the 
earth  wholesome." 

My  Father,  may  the  world  not  mould  me  today,  but  may  I 
be  so  strong  as  to  help  to  mould  the  world!  Amen. — John 
Henry  Jowett. 

Fifth  Week,  Second  Day 

The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  treasure  hidden  in 
the  field;  which  a  man  found,  and  hid;  and  in  his  joy  he 
goeth  and  selleth  all  that  he  hath,  and  buyeth  that  field. 

Again,  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  like  unto  a  man  that 
is  a  merchant  seeking  goodly  pearls:  and  having  found 
one  pearl  of  great  price,  he  went  and  sold  all  that  he  had, 
and  bought  it. — Matt.  13 :  44-46. 

Christian  service  plainly  demands  this  second  form  of  self- 
denial:  the  abandonment  of  scattered  loyalty  for  a  life  of  dom- 
inant interest  in  the  Kingdom  of  God  on  earth.  To  be  a  Chris- 
tian is  not  negative  absence  of  outbreaking  sin,  as  some  seem 
to  suppose.  "I  have  known  men,"  said  Henry  Ward  Beecher, 
"who  thought  the  object  of  conversion  was  to  clean  them,  as 
a  garment  is  cleaned,  and  that  when  they  were  converted  they 
were  to  be  hung  up  in  the  Lord's  wardrobe,  the  door  of  which 
was  to  be  shut  so  that  no  dust  could  get  at  them.  A  coat 
that  is  not  used  the  moths  eat ;  and  a  Christian  who  is  hung 
up  so  that  he  shall  not  be  tempted — the  moths  eat  him ;  and 
they  have  poor  food  at  that."  Rather,  a  Christian  life  is  one 
of  positive,  single-hearted  devotion  to  the  welfare  of  man,  to 
the  service  of  the  lowliest  and  lost,  to  the  support  of  all  good 
causes,  to  the  hope  of  the  Kingdom.  But  a  life  so  centrally 
dedicated  costs  its  price.  Sometimes  a  man,  as  Jesus  said, 
must  give  up  for  it  all  that  he  has.  Under  any  circumstances, 
a  life  that  cares,  suffers.  So  when  the  Fugitive  Slave  Law 
was  passed,  a  great  New  Englander  wrote:  "There  is  infamy 
in  the  air.  I  have  a  new  experience.  I  wake  in  the  morning 
with  a  painful  sensation,  which  I  carry  about  all  day,  and 
which,  when  traced  home,  is  the  odious  remembrance  of  the 

73 


[V-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

ignominy  which  has  fallen  on  Massachusetts,  which  robs  the 
landscape  of  beauty  and  takes  the  sunshine  out  of  every  hour." 
Do  you  care  for  any  good  cause  as  much  as  that? 

O  Lord,  fill  us  with  the  simplicity  of  a  divine  purpose,  that 
we  may  be  inwardly  at  one  with  Thy  holy  will,  and  lifted 
above  vain  wishes  of  our  own.  Set  free  from  every  detaining 
desire  or  reluctance,  may  we  heartily  surrender  all  our  pozvers 
to  the  work  which  Thou  hast  given  us  to  do;  rejoicing  in  any 
toil,  and  fainting  under  no  hardness  that  may  befall  us,  as 
good  soldiers  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  counting  it  as  our  crown 
of  blessing,  if  we  may  join  the  company  of  the  faithful  who 
have  kept  Thy  Name,  and  witnessed  to  Thy  kingdom  in  every 
age.  Amen. — James  Martineau. 

Fifth  Week,  Third  Day 

And  he  looked  up,  and  saw  the  rich  men  that  were  cast- 
ing'their  gifts  into  the  treasury.  And  he  saw  a  certain 
poor  widow  casting  in  thither  two  mites.  And  he  said, 
Of  a  truth  I  say  unto  you,  This  poor  widow  cast  in  more 
than  they  all:  for  all  these  did  of  their  superfluity  cast 
in  unto  the  gifts;  but  she  of  her  want  did  cast  in  all  the 
living  that  she  had. — Luke  21:  1-4. 

Christian  service  plainly  demands  self-denial  in  money. 
Extravagant  expenditure  while  millions  of  people  are  in  want, 
needless  luxury,  while  good  causes  fail  for  funds — there  is  no 
use  in  claiming  the  Christian  name  if  one  indulges  in  such 
obviously  -unchristian  conduct.  Some  have  said  that  even 
luxurious  expenditure  is  useful  because  it  furnishes  work  for 
the  laborer,  but  what  it  really  does  is  to  call  both  work  and 
money  away  from  necessary  tasks  to  unproductive  and  need- 
less investments.  How  justly  does  this  satire -fall  on  Dives! 

"Now  Dives  daily  feasted 
And  was  gorgeously  arrayed ; 
Not  at  all  because  he  liked  it, 
But  because  'twas  good  for  trade. 
That  the  poor  might  have  more  calico, 
He  clothed  himself  with  silk ; 
And  surfeited  himself  on  cream 
That  they  might  have  more  milk. 
And  e'en  to  show  his  sympathy 
For  the  deserving  poor 
He  did  no  useful  work  himself 
That  they  might  do  the  more." 

74 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-4] 

Compare  such  a  character  with  the  woman  of  the  parable. 
She  was  taking  her  religion  in  earnest ;  and  she  gave  good 
proof  of  it  in  her  use  of  money.  For  the  use  of  money  can 
be  made  a  touchstone  of  sincerity.  If  a  man  say  that  he  loves 
his  family,  but,  being  able,  makes  no  provision  for  their  finan- 
cial security,  spending  his  income  rather  in  his  present  pleas- 
ures, something  is  seriously  the  matter  with  his  love.  If  a 
man  say  that  he  loves  God  and  his  fellows,  but  does  not  give 
till  it  hurts  for  their  service,  his  professed  love  is  not  likely 
to  be  more  than  a  theatrical  gesture. 

O  Lord,  who  though  Thou  ivast  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes 
didst  become  poor,  and  hast  promised  in  Thy  Gospel  that 
ivhatsoever  is  done  unto  the  least  of  Thy  brethren,  Thou  wilt 
receive  as  done  unto  Thee ;  give  us  grace,  we  humbly  beseech 
Thee,  to  be  ever  willing  and  ready  to  minister,  as  Thou  en- 
ablest  us,  to  the  necessities  of  our  fellow-creatures,  and  to 
extend  the  blessings  of  Thy  kingdom  over  all  the  world,  to 
Thy  praise  and  glory,  who  art  God  over  all,  blessed  for  ever. 
Amen. — St.  Augustine  (354-430). 

Fifth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

And  Zacchaeus  stood,  and  said  unto  the  Lord,  Behold, 
Lord,  the  half  of  my  goods  I  give  to  the  poor;  and  if  I 
have  wrongfully  exacted  aught  of  any  man,  I  restore  four- 
fold. And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  To-day  is  salvation  come 
to  this  house,  forasmuch  as  he  also  is  a  son  of  Abraham. 
For  the  Son  of  man  came  to  seek  and  to  save  that  which 
was  lost. — Luke  19:8-10. 

Christian  service  demands  not  only  self-denial  in  giving 
money,  but  self-denial  in  making  it.  Zacchseus  had  pressed 
the  opportunities  of  his  position  to  the  limit ;  he  had  charged 
all  that  the  traffic  would  bear ;  he  had  narrowly  looked  at  all 
chances  for  gain — honest,  half-honest,  or  dishonest — and  had 
squeezed  them  as  dry  as  he  could.  The  invasion  of  his  life 
by  Jesus  meant  an  economic  revolution.  He  was  forced  to 
review  the  sources  of  his  income  and  to  plan  a  radical  change. 
One  of  the  acutest  self-denials  demanded  by  Christianity  and 
too  often  disregarded,  is  such  a  renunciation  of  profits. 
Needlessly  high  prices,  needlessly  low  wages,  needlessly  un- 
wholesome conditions  of  labor  make  dividends  poisonous. 
No  true  Christian  can  ever  knowingly  coin  the  suffering  and 

75 


[V-S]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

degradation  of  his  fellows  into  cash  for  his  own  pocket.  The 
problem  presented  by  this  fact,  under  conditions  of  modern 
industry,  is  enormously  difficult  for  the  individual  to  handle. 
As  Professor  Rauschenbusch  wrote:  "Stockholders  are  scat- 
tered absentee  owners.  A  corporation  might  be  composed  of 
retired  missionaries,  peace  advocates,  and  dear  old  ladies,  but 
their  philanthropy  would  cause  no  vibrations  in  the  business 
end  of  the  concern."  The  solution  of  the  problem  can  come 
only  with  general  alterations  in  public  ideals  of  business  and 
with  economic  changes  to  give  such  better  ideals  expression ; 
but  this  does  not  excuse  any  man  from  an  earnest,  sacrificial 
endeavor  to  purge  the  sources  of  his  income  from  unchris- 
tian elements. 

Deliver  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  O  Lord,  from  all  kinds  of 
stealing,  extortion,  fraud  in  trade  and  contracts;  from  all 
making  haste  to  be  rich,  and  from  taking  advantage  of  the 
ignorance  or  necessity  of  the  persons  we  deal  with. — 
Bishop  Ken. 

Fifth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

And  Jesus  said  unto  Simon,  Fear  not;  from  henceforth 
thou  shalt  catch  men.  And  when  they  had  brought  their 
boats  to  land,  they  left  all,  and  followed  him.  .  .  .  And 
after  these  things  he  went  forth,  and  beheld  a  publican, 
named  Levi,  sitting  at  the  place  of  toll,  and  said  unto  him, 
Follow  me.  And  he  forsook  all,  and  rose  up  and  followed 
him. — Luke  5: 10,  n,  27,  28. 

Not  everybody  was  thus  called  on  to  leave  the  ordinary 
business  of  life.  Sometimes  Jesus  called  men  to  stay  where 
they  were.  So  to  the  healed  Gadarene  demoniac,  who  wanted 
to  join  the  traveling  company  of  the  apostles,  the  Master  said, 
"Go  to  thy  house  and  unto  thy  friends"  (Mark  5:19).  But 
some  men  and  women  are  called  out  for  special  work.  The 
'comfort  and  security  of  home  life  and  a  settled  business  are 
denied  them.  They  are  missionaries ;  they  toil  in  the  slums 
of  the  cities;  they  undertake  ventures  in  philanthropy;  they 
pioneer  fresh  fields  of  truth  and  bear  the  brunt  of  the  at- 
tacks that  always  fall  on  unaccustomed  enterprises ;  they  are 
the  unusual  folk,  the  martyrs  in  whom  the  sacrifice  of  Jesus 
is  fulfilled,  "He  saved  others,  himself  he  cannot  save"  (Mark 
15:31).  Christian  character  involves  the  willingness  to  an- 

76 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-6J 

swer  such  a  call  as  this.  The  self-denial  involved  in  it  is 
sharply  obvious.  Only  the  loftiest  motives  can  sustain  men 
in  such  self-sacrifice.  So  St.  Bernard  put  it:  "The  faithful 
soldier  does  not  feel  his  own  wounds  when  he  looks  with  love 
on  those  of  his  King." 

O  God,  the  God  of  all  goodness  and  of  all  grace,  who  art 
worthy  of  a  greater  love  than  we  can  cither  give  or  under- 
stand; fill  our  hearts,  we  beseech  Thee,  with  such  love  toward 
Thee,  that  nothing  may  seem  too  hard  for  us  to  do  or  to  suffer 
in  obedience  to  Thy  will;  and  grant  that  thus  loving  Thee, 
we  may  become  daily  more  like  unto  Thee,  and  finally  obtain 
the  crown  of  life  which  Thou  hast  promised'  to  those  that 
love  Thee;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — "A  Book 
of  Prayers  for  Students." 

Fifth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

Recall  today  the  familiar  scene  where  Naomi  bids  farewell 
to  her  daughters-in-law,  and  turns  her  face  from  Moab  to- 
ward her  home  country : 

And  they  lifted  up  their  voice,  and  wept  again:  and 
Orpah  kissed  her  mother-in-law;  but  Ruth  clave  unto  her. 

And  she  said,  Behold,  thy  sister-in-law  is  gone  back 
unto  her  people,  and  unto  her  god:  return  thou  after  thy 
sister-in-law.  And  Ruth  said,  Entreat  me  not  to  leave 
thee,  and  to  return  from  following  after  thee;  for 
whither  thou  goest,  I  will  go ;  and  where  thou  lodgest, 
I  will  lodge;  thy  people  shall  be  my  people,  and  thy  God 
my  God;  where  thou  diest,  will  I  die,  and  there  will  I  be 
buried;  Jehovah  do  so  to  me,  and  more  also,  if  aught  but 
death  part  thee  and  me.  And  when  she  saw  that  she  was 
stedfastly  minded  to  go  with  her,  she  left  off  speaking 
unto  her. — Ruth  i :  14-18. 

Of  how  much  self-denial  in  family  relationships  is  this  a 
type!  To  be  .a  real  Christian  in  a  home  often  means  costly 
self-renunciation.  Controlled  temper,  decent  demeanor  no 
matter  how  you  feel,  a  radiant  spirit  even  under  irritating 
circumstances — even  such  simple  elements  of  Christian  home 
life  are  not  easy.  Carlyle  did  not  master  that  much  self- 
denial  in  his  relationships  with  his  wife.  "Ah!  if  I  only  had 
five  minutes  with  her,"  he  said  after  her  death,  "if  only  to 
assure  her  that  I  loved  her  through  all  that."  And  often  the 

77 


[V-7]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

demands  of  self-renunciation  in  a  home  go  deeper.  When 
poverty  must  be  faced  together,  when  sickness  falls,  the 
tragedy  of  which  all  share,  when  children  are  sent  to  college 
by  parents  who  cannot  afford  it,  when  sin  wrecks  lives  which 
nevertheless  love  will  not  give  up — how  intimate,  exacting, 
and  continuous  are  the  gracious  self-bestowals  of  a  true  home! 
Here  live  the  modest  martyrs,  of  service  whose  names  are 
written  in  heaven.  For  Ruth  is  one  of  an  innumerable  com- 
pany who  have  found  their  sphere  of  self-renouncing  love  in 
the  home  and  whose  reward,  like  Ruth's,  lies  here,  that  she 
bore  Obed,  and  "he  is  the  father  of  Jesse,  the  father  of 
David." 

O  Heavenly  Father,  shed  forth  Thy  blessed  Spirit  richly 
on  all  the  members  of  this  household.  Make  each  one  of  us 
an  instrument  in  Thy  hands  for  good.  Purify  our  hearts, 
strengthen  our  minds  and  bodies,  fill  us  with  mutual  love. 
Let  no  pride,  no  self-conceit,  no  rivalry,  no  dispute  ever  spring 
up  among  us.  Make  us  earnest  and  true,  wise  and  prudent, 
giving  no  just  cause  for  offense;  and  may  Thy  holy  peace 
rest  upon  us  this  day  and  every  day,  sweetening  our  trials, 
cheering  us  in  our  work,  and  keeping  us  faithful  to  the  end; 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Church  Guild. 

Fifth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Such  are  the  familiar  self-denials  which  a  Christian  life 
involves:  the  withstanding  of  popular  sins;  the  refusal  of 
loose  and  scattered  loyalty;  the  conquest  of  niggardliness; 
f'the  renunciation  of  tainted  income ;  the  sacrifice  of  comfort, 
home,  country,  and  life  itself,  if  need  be,  to  fulfil  a  special 
vocation ;  and,  if  that  be  not  demanded,  the  daily  self-renun- 
ciation without  which  home,  neighborhood,  and  friendship  are 
impossible.  Such  a  program  of  self-denial  the  Master  de- 
manded without  diminution  or  apology. 

From  that  time  began  Jesus  to  show  unto  his  disciples, 
that  he  must  go  unto  Jerusalem,  and  suffer  many  things 
of  the  elders  and  chief  priests  and  scribes,  and  be  killed, 
and  the  third  day  be  raised  up.  And  Peter  took  him,  and 
began  to  rebuke  him,  saying,  Be  it  far  from  thee,  Lord: 
this  shall  never  be  unto  thee.  But  he  turned,  and  said 
unto  Peter,  Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan:  thou  art  a  stum- 
bling-block unto  me:  for  thou  mindest  not  the  things  of 

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SELF-DENIAL  [V-c] 

God,  but  the  things  of  men.  Then  said  Jesus  unto  his 
disciples,  If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny 
himself,  and  take  up  his  cross,  and  follow  me.  For  who- 
soever would  save  his  life  shall  lose  it:  and  whosoever 
shall  lose  his  life  for  my  sake  shall  find  it. — Matt.  16:  21-25. 

St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  knew  from  experience  to  what 
extremes  Christian  self-sacrifice  could  go,  wrote  once  about 
this  closing  verse: 

"It  may  be  easy  to  understand  the  Latin,  and  the  general 
meaning  of  this  saying  of  the  Lord,  but  when  dangers  arise, 
where  the  life  about  which  you  wish  to  decide  will  probably  be 
lost,  and  when,  in  order  to  prepare  yourself  to  decide  to  lose 
your  life  for  God's  sake  that  you  may  find  it  in  Him,  you  get 
down  to  details,  everything  else,  even  this  clear  Latin,  begins 
to  get  hazy.  And  in  such  a  case,  however  learned  you  may  be, 
yoi»  can  understand  nothing,  unless  God,  in  His  infinite  mercy, 
makes  your  particular  case  plain." 

Surely  we  may  take  it  for  certain,  that  if  we  have  no  idea 
what  Xavier  means,  if  we  never  have  been  hard  put  to  it  to 
bring  ourselves  to  the  point  of  a  decisive  and  costly  self-denial, 
we  have  not  been  following  very  closely  in  the  footsteps  of 
the  Master. 

Yea,  0  my  God,  we  lay  hold  of  Thy  Cross,  as  of  a  staff 
that  can  stand  unshaken,  when  the  Hoods  run  high.  The  tale 
told  us  is  no  fairy  story  of  some  far-away  land:  it  is  this 
world,  and  not  another — this  world  with  all  its  miseries  and 
its  slaughter  and  its  ruin — that  Thou  hast  entered  to  redeem, 
by  Thine  Agony  and  bloody  Sweat. — H.  Scott  Holland. 


All  that  we  Itave  said  about  self-sacrifice  as  the  road  to 
self-fulfilment  may  be  true,  but  it  will  take  a  fairer  and  more 
gracious  world  than  ours  to  make  it  constantly  seem  true. 
There  are  persons  with  whom  it  is  easy  for  our  lives  to  blend, 
until  in  losing  self  in  them  we  find  our  selves  returned  to  us, 
enlarged  and  glorified.  So  Paul  said,  "He  that  loveth  his  own 
wife  loveth  himself"  (Eph.  5:28).  There  are  causes  in 
the  service  of  which  our  interest  runs  high,  so  that,  giving 
ourselves  to  them,  we  find  an  expanded  and  satisfying  life. 
But  the  spending  of  self  in  service  is  not  always  so  obviously 
associated  with  rich  return.  There  are  times  when  self-sac- 

79 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

rifice  and  self-fulfilment  do  not  beautifully  blend.  Tennyson 
put  the  truth  of  our  last  chapter  into  poetry : 

"Love  took  up  the  harp  of  Life,  and  smote  on  all  the  chords 

with  might; 

Smote  the  chord  of  Self,  that,  trembling,  pass'd  in  music  out 
of  sight." 

But  often  our  individual  selves,  with  all  their  clamorous  rights 
and  needs,  are  not  so  easily  disposed  of.  They  do  not  pass  out 
of  sight  "in  music,"  but  in  agony  and  rebellion.  They  chafe 
against  the  piercing  self-denials  that  often  are  involved  when 
we  do  our  serviceable  duty. 

Some  people  it  is  a  delight  to  serve.  They  are  obviously 
worth  it.  Their  response  in  gratitude,  their  alert  capacity  to 
avail  themselves  of  proffered  aid,  their  swift  recovery  from 
need  to  independence,  visit  any  service  rendered  them  with 
immediate  reward.  But  one  who  sets  himself,  in  the  spirit 
of  the  Master,  to  lead  a  serviceable  life,  does  not  float  day 
after  day  through  such  idyllic  experiences.  He  sends  boys 
through  college  and  they  turn  out  tp  be  thankless  rascals ; 
he  endeavors  to  advance  an  able  girl  to  a  more  responsible 
position  and  she  grows  heady  and  hopeless ;  he.  conceives  a 
fine  plan  to  redeem  an  unsanitary  neighborhood  and  with 
chagrin  discovers  that  the  hapless  sufferers  prefer  it  as  it  is ; 
he  ministers  tirelessly  through  many  years  to  .the  exacting 
demands  of  a  querulous  and  selfish  relative,  only  to  wonder 
at  the  end  whether  such  poignant  self-denial  was  right. 

Moreover,  self-sacrificial  service  that  ideally  should  expand 
the  life,  often  in  practice  seems  to  narrow  it.  Helpfulness, 
alluring  at  first,  lapses  into  drudgery.  Living  in  a  settlement, 
going  as  a  missionary,  championing  a  worthy  cause,  helping 
all  sorts  of  folk,  may  appear  romantic ;  in  fact,  it  is  extraor- 
dinarily hard  work.  So  when  Florence  Nightingale  and  her 
first  corps  of  nurses  were  sailing  up  the  Bosphorus  to  deal 
with  the  nameless  horrors  in  the  Crimea,  the  glow  of  adven- 
ture still  was  exciting  the  young  women's  thoughts.  They 
uttered  ecstatic  exclamations  over  the  coming  days  of  service. 
But  Miss  Nightingale  silenced  them.  "Young  women,"  she 
said,  "the  strongest  will  be  wanted  at  the  washtub." 

Not  only  does  a  serviceable  spirit  find  itself  dealing  thus 
with  unresponsive  folk  and  monotonous  tasks,  but,  as  well, 
the  times  come  when  self-sacrifice  means  self-sacrifice  with  a 

80 


SELF-DENIAL  .       [V-c] 

vengeance.  The  claims  of  others  cut  clean  across  the  dearest 
interests  of  our  own  lives.  Not  any  expansion  of  the  sac- 
rificing self  is  obvious,  but  rather  the  utter  self-renunciation 
with  which  the  sweetest,  wholesomest,  choicest  joys  are  given 
up  for  others'  sake.  Times  come  when  saving  others  means 
that  we  cannot  save  ourselves.  So  David  Livingstone  laid 
his  wife  away,  dead  of  the  jungle  fever,  and  broken-hearted 
and  alone  turned  his  face  toward  his  last  terrific  journey  into 
the  interior.  In  his  diary  we  find  this  outburst  of  agony :  "Oh, 
my  Mary,  my  Mary !  How  often  we  have  longed  for  a  quiet 
home,  since  you  and  I  were  cast  adrift  at  Kolobeng!" 

II 

Granting,  therefore,  that  only  in  unselfish  service  can  any 
life  find  true  enlargement  and  satisfaction,  we  need  still  to 
consider  in  terms  of  concrete  experience  the  problem  of  costly 
self-denials.  For  one  thing,  when  the  Master  says,  "If  any 
man  would  come  after  me  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up 
his  cross  and  follow  me,"  he  is  not  in  the  least  unique.  Every 
art,  science,  feat  of  skill,  and  enterprise  on  earth  says  the 
same  thing.  So  Paul  at  the  Greek  games  saw  men  who  could 
not  have  guided  so  unerringly  their  swerving  chariots,  so  tire- 
lessly have  run  their  races  and  sustained  their  combats,  if 
with  unwearying  self-denial  they  had  not  disciplined  them- 
selves. And  the  apostle  in  whose  heart  it  well  may  be  that  a 
fight  was  on  against  some  resurgent  wish  for  ease  and  com- 
fort, went  back  to  his  own  self-denying  life,  with  the  figures 
of  the  athletes  in  his  thought :  "They  do  it  to  obtain  a  cor- 
ruptible crown;  but  we  an  incorruptible"  (I  Cor.  9:25). 

Consider,  then,  the  self-denial  of  acrobats.  To  children 
they  are  like  automata,  nimble  in  action,  marvelous  in  skill. 
But  older  folk  must  think  of  the  discipline  that  lies  behind 
the  precision  of  their  feats.  They  have  guarded  their  bodies 
by  self-restraint  and  hardened  them  by  exercise;  they  have 
risked  life  to  learn  new  exploits;  they  have  let  neither  bore- 
dom nor  weariness  nor  illness  prevent  their  continual  appear- 
ances. And  "they  do  it  to  obtain  a  corruptible  crown." 

Consider  the  musicians.  When  a  master  violinist  plays 
a  great  passage  from  Beethoven,  flawless  in  technique,  gor- 
geous in  coloring,  till  eyes  grow  wet  and  nerves  are  taut  with 
exquisite  delight,  like  the  strings  of  the  violin  on  which  he 

81 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

plays,  who  can  compute  the  cost  of  such  consummate  skill? 
Self-denial  is  no  special  property  of  Christian  service.  It  is 
an  elemental  law  of  life. 

Consider  the  explorers.  What  rigor  of  the  northern  cold, 
what  exile  from  the  comforts  of  home,  what  sustained  and 
perilous  self-renunciation  did  Peary  undergo  that  he  might 
be  the  discoverer  of  the  North  Pole !  Or  when,  amid  his 
freezing  comrades,  Scott  lay  dying  on  the  homeward  march 
from  the  South  Pole,  what  splendid  capacity  for  sustained 
self-sacrifice  is  revealed  in  what  he  wrote :  "We  took  risks ; 
we  knew  we  took  them,  and  therefore  we  have  no  cause  for 
complaint,  but  bow  to  the  will  of  Providence,  determined  still 
to  do  our  best  to  the  last.  Had  we  lived,  I  should  have  had 
a  tale  to  tell  of  the  hardihood,  endurance,  and  courage  of  my 
companions,  which  would  have  stirred  the  heart  of  every 
Englishman." 

Consider  men  of  business.  One  who  deliberately  risks  life 
for  a  philanthropic  cause  is  widely  heralded,  but  business 
men  in  multitudes  break  down  their  health  each  year  or, 
seeking  their  fortunes  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  put  life  in 
jeopardy.  Missionaries  leave  country,  family,  comfort,  and 
cherished  opportunities,  to  bury  themselves  in  obscure  and 
uninviting  places,  often  among  folk  whom  only  the  grace  of 
God  can  make  one  love  at  first.  But  is  there  any  place  where 
men  go  for  Christ's  sake,  where  they  do  not  go  for  money's 
sake?  Is  there  any  outpost  so  remote  where  men  carry  the 
Gospel,  to  which  also  men  do  not  carry  the  products  of  our 
factories  ?  So  Livingstone  cried :  "Can  the  love  of  Christ  not 
carry  the  missionary  where  the  slave  trade  carries  the 
slaver?" 

Or  if  one  would  know  the  lengths  to  which  self-denial  com- 
monly goes  in  human  life,  let  him  consider  the  patriot.  If 
the  Master  had  said  to  us,  I  have  a  cause  that  at  all  costs 
and  hazards  must  be  poshed  to  a  victorious  issue ;  within  five 
years  it  will  cost  twenty  million  dead  and  such  a  lavish  out- 
pouring of  treasure  that  all  the  race  in  half  a  century  cannot 
repay  it,  what  would  we  have  done?  But  patriotism  has  said 
that  and  we  have  answered.  How  common  in  history  is  the 
spirit  of  Ricasoli :  "I  would  have  killed  my  daughter,  who 
was  my  great  affection  on  earth,  if  she  had  been  an  obstacle 
to  achieving  the  great  end  toward  which  so  many  Italians 
were  straining." 

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SELF-DENIAL  [V-c] 

One  who  shrinks  from  costly  self-denial  for  service's  sake 
may  well  consider,  first  of  all,  that  self-denial  is  common  coin, 
rung  on  every  counter  in  the  world  where  men  buy  anything 
which  in  serious  earnest  they  desire. 

"They  do  it  to  obtain  a  corruptible  crown." 

Ill 

Such  an  approach  to  the  problem  of  self-denial  reveals  its 
true  nature.  It  is  not  the  negative,  forbidding  thing  that  often 
we  shake  our  heads  about.  In  one  sense  there  is  no  such 
thing  as  self-denial,  for  what  we  call  such  is  the  necessary 
price  we  pay  for  things  on  which  our  hearts  are  set. 

This  truth  stands  clear  in  all  concerns  of  moral  character.- 
Many  a  young  man  is  warned  against  the  evils  of  illicit  love, 
as  though  he  were  being  asked  chiefly  to  give  up  pleasure. 
The  emphasis  is  all  upon  the  repression  of  an  appetite.  Purity 
is  made  to  seem  merely  a  negative  denial  of  deep  desire.  In 
the  young  man's  thought,  dissipation  is  the  positively  alluring 
life,  full  of  charm  and  music,  while  purity  is  life  stripped, 
straitened,  and  set  in  the  forbidding  grasp  of  prohibitory 
laws.  What  wonder  that  so  many  turn  to  the  warmth  and 
color  of  a  wayward  life! 

The  truth,  however,  about  the  self-denial  which  purity  in- 
volves is  based  upon  this  positive  fact :  the  most  beautiful  pos- 
session on  this  earth  which  man  has.  ever  imagined  or  achieved 
is  a  Christian  home.  Who  has_one  is  rich,  and  who  may  have 
one  and  meanly  misses  it,  has  played  the  fool.  But  so  priceless  a 
possession  does  not  come  by  accident.  Men  do  not  drift  into 
it.  They  must  pay  the  price.  If  a  man  would  have  the  full 
beauty  of  a  Christian  home,  there  are  some  kinds  of  life  that 
he  must  not  live. 

The  gripping  appeal  for  self-denying  purity,  therefore,  is 
not  negative.  Young  man,  so  it  might  run,  the  girl  whom 
you  are  going  to  marry  is  now  alive.  You  may  never  have 
met  her,  but  somewhere  she  is  walking  down  a  path  which  in 
the  providence  of  God  some  day  will  cross  yours.  Wherever 
she  may  be,  she  keeps  herself  for  you,  and  in  her  imagina- 
tion you  are  even  now  a  prince  whom  some  day  she  will 
gladly  marry.  Not  for  the  wealth  of  the  world  would  she  be 
grossly  untrue  to  you.  How,  then,  are  you  living?  You  have 
no  right  to  take  to  such  a  girl  a  life  smirched  and  rotted  with 

83 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

unchastity.  If  you  do,  there  is  a  secret  shame  you  never  will 
outgrow,  a  pang  that  you  will  feel  whenever  your  children 
clamber  to  your  arms.  To  have  a  home  free  from  all  that, 
with  memories  high  and  beautiful,  is  worth  anything  that  it 
may  cost.  Those  who  have  such  homes  do  not  call  the  price 
of  them  self-denial.  It  is  all  clear  gain.  They  have  surren- 
dered dust  for  diamonds.  For  this  is  the  deepest  truth  about 
self-denial :  that  men  positively  set  their  hearts  upon  some 
high  possession  which  they  greatly  want,  and,  paying  the  price 
of  it  in  self-restraint,  they  count  themselves  the  happiest  of 
men  to  possess  their  treasure.  Self-denial  is  not  negative 
repression,  but  the  cost  of  positive  achievement. 

So  inextricably  indeed  is  the  fact  of  self-denial  wrought 
into  life  that  by  no  devious  dodging  can  one  escape  it.  Let 
a  man  say,  Not  self-denial  but  self-indulgence  is  my  choice; 
I  set  no  high  and  costly  aims  ahead  of  me ;  I  seek  an  unre- 
strained and  uncostly  life!  Has  he  then  escaped  self-renun- 
ciation? Rather  he  has  plunged  head  foremost  into  the  most 
terrific  self-denial  that  human  life  can  anyhow  sustain.  For 
if  we  will  not  deny  ourselves  for  a  Christian  home,  we  shall 
deny  ourselves  a  Christian  home!  What  more  appalling  self- 
renunciation  can  there  be?  If  we  will  not  deny  ourselves  a 
loose  and  unchaste  life,  then  we  shall  deny  ourselves  self- 
respect  and  a  conscience  fit  to  live  with.  If  we  will  not  deny 
ourselves  bad  temper  and  a  wagging  tongue,  then  we  shall  deny 
ourselves  friendship — God  pity  us !  If  we  will  not  deny  our- 
selves those  habits  of  thought  and  life  that  keep  divine  fellow- 
ship away  from  human  hearts,  then  we  shall  deny  ourselves 
God.  In  short,  if  we  will  not  give  up  evil  for  good,  we  shall 
I  surely  give  up  good  for  evil.  Where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a 
won't.  Self-denial  is  unescapable.  It  is  not  the  negative, 
forbidding  amputation  of  self  from  which  men  often  shrink. 
It  is  the  price  men  pay  when  they  have  positively  set  their 
hearts  upon  some  chosen  goal.  At  its  highest  it  is  the  privilege 
life  offers  us  of  buying  the  best  at  the  sacrifice  of  something 
less  desired. 

IV 

The  difference  between  men,-  therefore,  does  not  lie  in  the 
presence  of  self-denial  in  their  experience.  That  comes  inevi- 
tably into  every  life.  The  difference  lies  in  the  ends  for  which 
men  deny  themselves.  Some  men  place  their  individual  selves 

84 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-c] 

at  the  center  of  their  lives,  and  sacrifice  everything  beside  in 
the  service  of  that  little  god.  George  Eliot  describes  an 
ancient  silver  mirror,  on  which,  if  one  brought  a  candle  near, 
the  multitudinous  fine  lines,  wrought  by  much  polishing, 
arranged  themselves  in  concentric  circles  around  the  light 
of  the  candle  flame.  So  to  a  mean  man  the  large  interests  of 
human  kind  center  about  his  self.  Self-centered  is  the  exact 
description  of  his  life.  The  costly  gains  of  civilization,  the 
securities  of  government,  the  hard-won  opportunities  of  trade, 
ties  of  family  and  friendship — all  these  in  his  eyes  exist  for 
his  special  benefit.  They  are  to  be  dressed  in  livery,  if  he 
can  manage  it,  and  made  to  serve  his  interests.  As  in  Joseph's 
dream,  the  sun,  the  moon,  and  the  eleven  stars  all  bow  in  obei- 
sance before  him.  Does  such  a  life  escape  self-denial?  Rather 
to  any  man  of  spiritual  vision  such  a  man  is  practicing  self- 
denial  in  its  most  extreme  form. 

He  is  denying  himself  that  generous  outlook  upon  life  which 
alone  can  open  human  eyes  to  the  worth  and  beauty  of  God's 
world.  Moffatt  gives  the  true  translation  of  the  Master's 
words:  "If  your  Eye  is  generous,  the  whole  of  your  body 
will  be  illumined,  but  if  your  Eye  is  selfish,  the  whole  of  your 
body  will  be  darkened"  (Matt.  6:23).  Look  on  mankind 
with  self-forgetful,  benevolent,  magnanimous  eyes,  and  life 
is  radiant;  look  on  mankind  with  churlish,  avaricious,  greedy 
eyes,  and  life,  as  Hobbes  the  philosopher  of  selfishness  called 
it,  "is  solitary,  poor,  nasty,  brutish,  and  short."  Wordsworth 
confesses  that  his  first  view  of  the  Alps  was  spoiled  for  him 
by  irritation  over  an  unsatisfactory  lunch.  So  does  our  clam- 
orous self-regard,  allowed  to  usurp  the  central  place  and  to 
obsess  our  thought,  blind  our  vision,  though  all  life's  splendor 
were  unrolled  before  us.  Whatever  gracious,  helpful,  inspir- 
ing thing  is  to  be  seen  on  earth,  only  an  eye  unspoiled  by  self- 
centeredness  can  see  it.  • 

Moreover,  the  self-centered  man  denies  himself  friendship. 
The  games  of  children  are  the  playful  replicas  of  manhood's 
serious  pursuits.  "Tag" — the  heated  chasing  of  things  hard  to 
catch ;  "I  Spy" — the  diligent  searching  for  things  hard  to  find ; 
"Puss  Wants  a  Corner" — the  competitive  struggle  for  posi- 
tions too  few  in  number  to  supply  the  demand — so  do  chil- 
dren's games  represent  adult  life.  But  "Prisoner's  Base," 
where,  caught  by  the  enemy,  only  the  touch  of  a  friend  can 
set  us  free,  goes  deeper  yet.  Our  friends  are  our  deliverers. 

85 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

They  call  us  out  of  our  narrow  selves ;  they  believe  in  our 
possibilities  which  we  cannot  discern ;  they  stand  by  us  when 
else  we  would  surrender  hope ;  they  shine  upon  us  like  the 
sun  and  rain  in  refreshing  fellowship;  and  they  bring  to 
maturity  within  us  all  that  is  excellent  and  of  good  report. 
Cries  Emerson :  "I  can  do  that  by  another  which  I  cannot  do 
alone.  I  can  say  to  you  what  I  cannot  first  say  to  myself." 
But  friendship  is  reciprocal.  Only  the  friendly  spirit  can 
keep  friends.  The  self-centered  man  has  denied  himself  the 
most  inspiring  relationship  on  earth. 

He  has  also  denied  himself  the  thrilling  satisfaction  of 
helping  men.  "Are  you  not  lonely  out  here?"  asked  a  visitor 
of  a  lighthouse  keeper  on  an  isolated  reef.  "Not  since  I  saved 
my  first  man,"  came  the  swift  answer.  To  be  of  use  to  people, 
to  see  them  redeemed  from  misery  and  sin,  to  know  in  one's 
own  experience  the  truth  which  Clement  of  Alexandria  spoke 
long  centuries  ago,  "At  all  times  God,  the  lover  of  men, 
clothes  himself  with  man  to  the  attainment  of  the  salvation 
of  men,''  is  one  of  the  most  penetrating  and  abiding  joys  of 
life.  General  Booth  in  the  slums  of  London,  through  long 
weeks  of  eager,  unrelenting  pursuit,  sought  the  reclamation  of 
one  wayward  man.  At  last  the  sustained,  compassionate 
friendship  of  the  General  wore  through  the  man's  obstinate 
resistance.  "Kindness  and  love !"  the  wretched  fellow  cried 
as  he  broke  down,  "Kindness  and  love !  Then  there  is  a  God  !" 
Can  ordinary  plummets  fathom  the  depth  of  satisfaction  that 
lies  in  such  an  experience  of  saviorhood?  But  the  self-cen- 
tered man  has  denied  himself  all  that. 

He  has  denied  himself  as  well  the  enlarging  and  enriching 
experience  which  belongs  to  the  cooperative  fellozvships  of 
men.  The  worth  of  life  lies  not  where  we  self-centeredly 
cry  My  but  where  we  loyally  cry  Our.  Our  family,  our 
friends,  our  church,  our  college,  our  country — in  such  centers 
of  self-effacing  and  self-expanding  loyalty  life  finds  its  sat- 
isfaction. One  man  alone  is  no  man  at  all.  Robinson  Crusoe 
is  a  poor  segment  of  a  man,  segregated  from  his  human  fel- 
lowships, and  only  when  braided  back  into  the  common  loy- 
alties and  patriotisms  that  make  life  fruitful  can  he  be  himself 
again.  But  the  self-centered  man  has  denied  himself  all  that. 
He  lives  in  spiritual  isolation,  with  walls  about  him  more 
impassable  than  the  seas  that  surrounded  Crusoe's  island. 
He  is  a  human  derelict.  His  soul  has  been  marooned. 

86 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-c] 

The  self-centered  man  has  denied  himself  also  the  exhil- 
aration of  believing  in  and  working  for  the  consummation  of 
all  human  hopes,  the  Kingdom  of  God  upon  earth.  In  trou- 
bled hours  the  progress  of  mankind  indeed  seems  dubious.  We 
pass  through  a  catastrophic  war,  with  high  expectations  that 
out  of  it  may  come  a  redeemed  earth.  But  the  war  over- 
passed, we  fall  into  more  baffling  problems  still,  bewildering 
to  our  hopes.  So  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  central  part 
of  London  burned  down.  Terrific  suffering  was  involved, 
but  one  thought  buoyed  up  the  spirits  of  the  people.  They 
saw  that  the  disaster  might  contribute  to  a  lasting  benefit. 
They  would  rebuild  a  new  and  better  London.  Sir  Chris- 
topher Wren  drew  up  the  plan.  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was 
to  be  its  center.  The  city  officials  sanctioned  the  enterprise ; 
the  citizens  were  eager  to  achieve  it.  When  they  faced  the 
practical  details,  however,  so  many  folk  insisted  that  as  for 
them  their  houses  must  be  placed  exactly  where  they  were 
before,  that  in  the  end  a  new  and  better  London  was  not 
built.  They  reared  the  city  once  again  upon  its  old  foun- 
dations. So  after  the  war  are  we  rebuilding  the  old  world 
upon  old  bases,  and  disillusionment  is  rampant  everywhere. 
Human  life  seems  like  a  brook,  that  cascading  down  the 
mountain,  grows  weary  of  the  rapids  and  waterfalls  and 
eagerly  anticipates  the  quiet  pool  at  the  cataract's  bottom. 
But  come  now  to  the  pool,  so  long  anticipated,  it  stays  there 
not  an  instant,  but  is  straightway  shot  out  again  into  new 
rapids  and  waterfalls  more  tumultuous  by  far,  it  may  be,  than 
those  just  left  behind.  So  have  we  passed  from  war,  through 
the  days  of  armistice,  into  the  problems  of  peace. 

Now  the  self-centered  man  looks  on  all  this  with  cynical 
eyes.  It  well  accords  with  his  philosophy.  As  one  who  in 
the  midst  of  conflagration  thinks  first  of  loot  which  he  may 
seize,  so  the  self-centered  man  in  this  mad  and  scrambling 
world  gets  what  he  can  for  himself  while  getting  is  possible. 
He  sees  no  vision  of  man's  circuitous  rise  to  possibilities  of 
finer  life.  No  hope  of  a  better  day  emerging  even  from  the 
chaos  of  a  world  in  ferment  stirs  his  heart.  No  voice  cries 
in  his  ear  the  words  of  Jeremiah  to  his  nephew  centuries 
ago  in  another  catastrophic  time,  "Seekest  thou  great  things 
for  thyself?  Seek  them  not"  (Jer.  45:5).  No  faith  that  by 
God's  grace  and  man's  endeavor  this  earth  can  be  made  the 
home  of  human  society  more  fair  and  fruitful  than  we  have 

87 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

yet  dared  to  dream,  allures  his  loyalty.  He  cares  nothing  for 
the  world  and  has  no  hopes  for  it.  He  is  a  profiteer  on  other 
men's  disasters.  He  is  a  slacker  from  man's  most  ennobling 
war  against  the  inner  sins  and  outer  circumstances  that  cripple 
human  life — 

"Unconcerned, 

Tranquil  almost,  and  careless  as  a  flower 
Glassed  in  a  greenhouse,  or  a  parlour  shrub 
That  spreads  its  leaves  in  unmolested  peace, 
While  every  bush  and  tree  the  country  through 
Is  shaking  to  the  roots." 

Last  of  all,  the  self-centered  man  has  denied  himself  all 
fellowship  with  God.  For  selfishness  is  a  cul-de-sac,  and  no 
man  ever  yet  broke  through  it  into  the  Divine  Presence. 
There  is  no  thoroughfare  to  the  love  of  God  except  through 
the  love  of  man.  The  stories  of  all  true  saints  are  illustrations 
of  this  truth.  The  warm  and  vital  religious  life  of  Whittier 
has  voiced  itself  in  poems  which,  read  as  meditations  or  sung 
as  hymns,  are  familiar  expressions  of  Christian  piety.  Many 
think  of  him  as  achieving  his  spirituality  by  the  wise  use  of 
solitude  alone.  He  is  to  us  a  mystic,  a  quietist.  But  even 
Whittier's  central  fight  was  against  selfishness.  "I  am 
haunted,"  he  said,  "by  an  immedicable  ambition — perhaps  a 
very  foolish  desire  of  distinction,  of  applause,  of  fame,  of 
what  the  world  calls  immortality."  Even  Whittier's  victory 
came  when  he  unselfishly  threw  himself  into  the  campaign 
for  the  abolition  of  slavery.  That  crusade  was  the  most  for- 
lorn of  all  unpopular  causes  when  he  espoused  it.  So  far 
from  living  a  quiet  life  he  was  for  years  a  busy  agitator ;  he 
lost  many  of  his  friends;  he  was  bitterly  maligned;  once  in 
Philadelphia  he  was  forced  in  disguise  to  flee  the  assault- 
ing mob. 

"We  may  not  climb  the  heav'nly  steeps 

To  bring  the  Lord  Christ  down ; 
In  vain  we  search  the  lowest  deeps 
For  Him  no  depths  can  drown.  .  .  . 

"But  warm,  sweet,  tender  even  yet 

A  present  help  is  he ; 
And  faith  has  still  its  Olivet 
And  love  its  Galilee." 

How  winsome  and  profound  his  fellowship  with  God  was ! 

88 


SELF-DENIAL  [V-c] 

But  one  of  the  deep  secrets  of  it  he  himself  revealed,  when  in 
his  old  age  he  said  to  a  young  man  :  "My  lad,  if  thou  wouldst 
win  success,  join  thyself  to  some  unpopular  but  noble  cause!" 

So  Moses  began  with  indignant  pity  for  the  suffering 
Israelites  in  Egypt  and  ended  beside  the  burning  bush  in 
fellowship  with  the  Eternal.  So  Elijah  began  with  righteous 
wrath  against  the  tyranny  of  Ahab  and  ended  on  the  moun- 
tain's side  alone,  listening  to  a  "still  small  voice."  So  Dante 
began  with  a  great  passion  for  a  united  Italy  and  ended  with 
Beatrice  standing  before  the  Great  White  Throne.  So  many  a 
humble  servant  of  his  fellows  has  found  that  God  is  love,  and 
that  where  love  is  there  God  is  also. 

No  self-denial  in  a  self-centered  life !  A  self-centered  man 
surrenders  the  spiritual  insight  which  can  perceive  life's  worth 
and  beauty  and  the  spirit  of  friendliness  which  alone  can 
make  friendship  possible ;  he  loses  the  thrill  of  saving  men, 
the  joys  of  cooperative  fellowship,  the  ennobling  influence  of 
a  conscious  share  in  the  coming  Kingdom  of  Righteousness 
upon  the  earth;  he  surrenders  the  possibility  of  fellowship 
with  God.  In  a  word,  he  denies  himself  everything  that  makes 
life  significant. 

"The  wretch  concentered  all  in  self 
Living  shall  forfeit  fair  renown, 
And,  doubly  dying,  shall  go  down 
To  the  vile  dust  from  whence  he  sprung, 
Unwept,  unhonoured,  and  unsung." 


From  such  a  miserable  life  all  men  of  depth  and  insight 
instinctively  have  shrunk.  As  one  traces  to  its  source  the 
difference  between  the  self-centered  men  and  these  generous 
servants  of  mankind,  he  is  led  back  to  the  inner  chambers  of 
the  heart  where  dwell  our  dominant  desires.  The  secret  of  a 
selfish  man  is  that  all  his  masterful,  controlling  wants  con- 
cern himself.  Nothing  seems  so  desirable  to  him  as  that  he 
himself  should  be  safe  and  fortunate.  The  secret  of  a  useful 
man  is  that  his  heart  is  set  on  the  happiness  of  his  family, 
the  welfare  of  his  friends,  the  progress  of  good  causes  in 
the  world,  the  redemption  of  the  victims  of  want  and  sin,  the 
coming  of  the  brotherhood  of  man.  His  thoughts,  affections, 
ambitions,  and  desires  are  centered  outside  his  narrow  self. 

89 


[V-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

And  because  he  so  wants  in  serious  earnest  to  see  these 
great  ends  gained,  he  willingly  will  pay  the  price.  Such  men 
never  count  their  wounds  or  call  their  labors  self-denial.  To 
give  up  their  work — that  would  be  the  renunciation  of  their 
real  selves.  So  Sir  Wilfred  Grenfell,  loving  the  fisher  folk 
of  Labrador,  remarks  that  he  dislikes  to  speak  of  self-sacri- 
fice, for  he  cannot  recall  that  he  ever  has  indulged  in  it.  So 
Livingstone,  passionately  desiring  the  salvation  of  Africa, 
could  write :  "People  talk  of  the  sacrifice  I  have  made  in 
spending  so  much  of  my  life  in  Africa.  .  .  It  is  em- 

phatically no  sacrifice.  Say  rather  it  is  a  privilege."  So  is  it 
written  of  the  Master:  "Who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before 
him  endured  the  cross,  despising  shame"  (Heb.  12:2). 


CHAPTER  VI 

Justice 

DAILY    READINGS 

We  are  to  accept  this  week  the  challenge  of  those  who 
appeal  from  self-denying  love  to  justice,  as  a  more  possible 
and  practical  ideal  of  conduct.  They  are  suspicious  of  so  lofty 
a  standard  as  self-sacrificing  service  for  all  sorts  of  folk, 
but  they  are  willing  to  be  just  to  everybody.  Let  us  see  in 
our  daily  readings  some  very  searching  principles  which  are 
involved  in  justice,  however  much  one  may  endeavor  to  reduce 
it  to  simple  terms. 

Sixth  Week,  First  Day 

And  as  ye  would  that  men  should  do  to  you,  do  ye  also 
to  them  likewise. — Luke  6:31. 

But  the  Pharisees,  when  they  heard  that  he  had  put  the 
Sadducees  to  silence,  gathered  themselves  together.  And 
one  of  them,  a  lawyer,  asked  him  a  question,  trying  him: 
Teacher,  which  is  the  great  commandment  in  the  law? 
And  he  said  unto  him,  Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy 
mind.  This  is  the  great  and  first  commandment.  And  a 
second  like  unto  it  is  this,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as 
thyself.  On  these  two  commandments  the  whole  law 
hangeth,  and  the  prophets. — Matt.  22:34-40. 

Here  stand  Jesus'  two  summaries  of  justice:  to  do  as  one 
would  be  done  by,  and  to  love  others  as  one  loves  one's  self. 
In  a  word,  simple  justice  involves  the  treatment  of  another's 
personality  as,  equally  with  one's  own,  an  object  of  respect 
and  consideration.  A  just  man,  therefore,  must  refuse  to- 
claim  for  himself  what  he  is  unwilling  to  grant  to  others. 
That  is  no  easy  principle  of  conduct,  on  so  much  lower  a 
plane  than  Christian  love  that  with  relief  a  man  can  fall  back 
upon  it.  Picture  children  in  a  home  being  thus  perfectly 
fair  with  one  another ;  imagine  men  in  business  always  treat- 

91 


[VI-2]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

ing  others  as  though  they  themselves  were  in  the  others' 
places ;  conceive  nations  never  claiming  for  themselves  what 
they  would  be  unwilling  to  grant  to  others ;  and  how  mar- 
velously  changed  would  be  our  home  life,  business  life,  and 
international  relationships !  If  we  mean  by  love  affectionate 
good  will,  it  is  often  far  easier  to  feel  that  for  individual 
people  who  come  in  contact  with  us  closely  enough  to  claim 
it,  than  it  is  to  be  scrupulously  and  impersonally  just  to  people 
whom  we  do  not  know.  "Because,"  says  Professor  George 
Herbert  Palmer,  "justice  seeks  to  benefit  all,  but  all  alike. 
;  It  knows  no  persons,  or  rather  it  knows  everyone  as  a  person 
;and  insures  each  his  share  in  the  common  good.  All  the 
altruism  of  love  is  here,  but  without  love's  arbitrary  selection 
and  limited  interest.  ...  In  this  extended  and  superpersonal 
love  altruism  attains  its  fullest  and  steadiest  expression." 

O  Almighty  God,  who  hast  entrusted  this  earth  unto  the 
children  of  men,  and  through  Thy  Son  Jesus  Christ  callest  us 
unto  a  heavenly  citizenship;  grant  us,  we  humbly  beseech 
Thee,  such  shame  and  repentance  for  the  disorder  and  injus- 
tice and  cruelty  that  is  in  our  midst,  that  fleeing  unto  Thee 
for  pardon  and  for  grace  we  may  henceforth  set  ourselves  to 
establish  that  city  which  has  justice  for  its  foundation  and  love 
for  its  law,  whereof  Thou  art  the  Architect  and  Maker; 
through  the  same  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  Son,  our  Saviour. — 
"Prayers  for  the  City  of  God." 

Sixth  Week,  Second  Day 

And  the  scribes  and  the  Pharisees  bring  a  woman  taken 
in  adultery;  and  having  set  her  in  the  midst,  they  say  unto 
him,  Teacher,  this  woman  hath  been  taken  in  adultery, 
in  the  very  act.  Now  in  the  law  Moses  commanded  us  to 
stone  such:  what  then  sayest  thou  of  her?  And  this  they 
said,  trying  him,  that  they  might  have  whereof  to  accuse 
him.  But  Jesus  stooped  down,  and  with  his  finger  wrote 
on  the  ground.  But  when  they  continued  asking  him,  he 
lifted  up  himself,  and  said  unto  them,  He  that  is  without 
sin  among  you,  let  him  first  cast  a  stone  at  her.  And 
again  he  stooped  down,  and  with  his  finger  wrote  on  the 
ground.  And  they,  when  they  heard  it,  went  out  one  by 
one,  beginning  from  the  eldest,  even  unto  the  last:  and 
Jesus  was  left  alone,  and  the  woman,  where  she  was,  in 
the  midst.  And  Jesus  lifted  up  himself,  and  said  unto  her, 
Woman,  where  are  they?  did  no  man  condemn  thee?  And 

92 


JUSTICE  [VI-3] 

she  said,  No  man,  Lord.  And  Jesus  said,  Neither  do  I 
condemn  thee:  go  thy  way;  from  henceforth  sin  no  more. 
— John  8:3-11. 

This  narrative  is  often  used  as  an  exhibition  of  the  Master's 
superlative  charity.  But  what  is  it  in  the  woman's  accusers 
that  arouses  his  indignation?  They  are  not  just.  They  are 
visiting  on  another  judgment  which  they  are  unwilling  to  have 
visited  on  themselves.  They  are  neglecting  the  basic  prin- 
ciple, not  only  of  mercy  but  of  law:  "He  who  cometh  into 
court  must  have  clean  hands."  It  is  perfectly  clear  that  if 
they  had  put  themselves  in  the  woman's  place  before  they 
judged  her  case,  they  would  have  had  some  contribution  to 
make  beside  flinging  stones.  To  be  just  in  our  judgments  of 
others,  weighing  fairly  the  circumstances  which  explain  their 
conduct,  letting  no  gusty  excess  of  resentment  distort  our 
estimate,  and  willing  that  with  what  measure  we  mete  it 
should  be  measured  to  us  again — what  a  searching  requirement 
•is  that!  Yet  that  is  simple  fairness.  "Judge  not  that  ye  bef 
not  judged.  For  with  what  judgment  ye  judge  ye  shall  be  ' 
judged"  (Matt.  7:1,  2). 

O  God,  we  pray  that  Thou  wilt  bless  the  outcast,  the  poor, 
the  ignorant,  the  wanderers — those  that  do  not  know  better 
than  to  live  in  hatreds,  in  strifes,  in  every  evil  passion.  Grant 
that  tve  may  not  turn  inhumanly  away  from  them,  as  if  they 
were  not  of  us;  as  if  they  did  not  belong  to  our  households; 
as  if  they  were  not  men  like  ourselves;  as  if  they  were  not 
parts  of  the  great  family  to  which  we  belong.  Grant  that 
those  zvho  go  forth  especially  to  seek  them,  to  preach  to  them, 
to  relieve  them,  and  to  succor  them,  may  themselves  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit  of  the  Master.  May  none  turn  back  from  well 
doing  because  they  find  among  the  poor  and  needy  ingratitude, 
intractableness,  indocility,  and  all  manner  of  evil  requitings. 
May  they,  too,  bear  men's  sitis  and  carry  their  sorrows,  as 
Christ  bore  our  sins  and  carried  our  sorrows-.  And  so  may 
they  learn  to  follow  Christ  through  good  report,  and  through 
evil  report,  and  exalt  the  conception  of  a  Christian  manhood 
in  the  eyes  of  men.  Amen. — Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

Sixth  Week,  Third  Day 

Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said  to  them  of  old  time, 
Thou  shalt  not  kill;  and  whosoever  shall  kill  shall  be  in 

93 


tVI-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

danger  of  the  judgment:  but  I  say  unto  you,  that  every  one 
who  is  angry  with  his  brother  shall  be  in  danger  of  the 
judgment;  and  whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca, 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  council;  and  whosoever  shall  say, 
Thou  fool,  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  hell  of  fire. — Matt. 
5:21,  22. 

Justice,  in  Jesus'  eyes,  involves  abstinence  not  only  from 
•deliberately  unfair  judgment  but  from  all  hasty,  contemptu- 
ous treatment  of  our  fellows.  Who  can  measure  the  harm 
done  daily  in  the  world  by  spoken  scorn?  How  it  withers 
the  fine  spirit  of  men,  and  rouses  rancor  and  bitterness ! 
It  discourages  hope,  blights  confidence,  breaks  friendship,  and 
leaves  everywhere  a  trail  of  disheartened,  resentful  lives.  The 
Psalmist  is  right:  to  walk  in  the  counsel  of  the  ungodly  is 
•bad  enough,  to  stand  in  the  way  of  sinners  is  worse  still,  but 
to  sit  in  the  seat  of  the  scornful  is  worst  of  all.  No  good 
thing  is  safe  from  an  unjust  tongue.  Even  King  Arthur's 
Round  Table  goes  to  pieces  before  Vivien's  contemptuous 
speech.  She 

"let  her  tongue 

Rage  like  a  fire  among  the  noblest  names, 

Polluting,  and  imputing  her  whole  self, 

Defaming  and  defacing,  till  she  left 

Not  even  Launcelot  brave,  nor  Galahad  clean." 

To  be  just  in  speech,  never  saying  of  another  what  we  would 
resent  if  said  about  ourselves,  to  love  our  neighbor's  reputa- 
tion with  our  tongue  as  much  as  we  love  our  own — is  that  an 
easy  standard  to  attain? 

•  //  from  all  Thy  good  gifts,  O  Lord,  I  may  ask  but  one,  let 
that  one  be  the  spirit  of  kindness! 

Let  others  have  fame  and  fortune  and  jewels  and  palaces, 
if  I  may  but  have  the  kindly  spirit!  Give  greatness  and  power 
to  those  that  want  them,  but  give  to  me  Brotherly  Kindness! 
Make  somebody  else  to  be  comely  of  visage,  if  only  I  may 
wear  a  kindly  countenance. 

May  I  never  wound  the  heart  of  any  faltering  child  of 
Thine!  Make  me  to  do  the  little  unremembered  acts  that 
quietly  help  without  intending  it.  Grant  me  to  bear  about  the 
unconscious  radiance  of  a  life  that  knows  no  grudge,  but  loves 
all  men  because  they  are  children  of  my  Father  Who  loved 
them  enough  to  send  His  Son  to  save  them.  Amen. — George 
A.  Miller. 

94 


JUSTICE  [VI-4] 

Sixth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

And  Jesus  entered  into  the  temple  of  God,  and  cast  out 
all  them  that  sold  and  bought  in  the  temple,  and  overthrew 
the  tables  of  the  money-changers,  and  the  seats  of  them 
that  sold  the  doves;  and  he  saith  unto  them,  It  is  written, 
My  house  shall  be  called  a  house  of  prayer:  but  ye  make 
it  a  den  of  robbers. — Matt.  21:  12,  13. 

Jerusalem  was  ordinarily  a  city  of  about  50,000  inhabitants. 
But  at  the  time  of  the  great  feasts,  pilgrims  to  the  number  of 
1,000,000  sometimes  thronged  the  city.  What  an  opportunity 
for  loot !  To  victimize  these  pious  pilgrims,  to  squeeze  them 
dry  of  their  money  by  ingenious  profiteering  schemes,  became 
a  lucrative  means  of  livelihood.  Here  the  Master  faces  this 
system  of  exploitation,  overflowing  into  the  temple  courts. 
He  resents  it,  as  he  always  resented  the  victimizing  of  people 
for  private  gain.  Now,  in  any  case  of  such  exploitation,  the 
man  who  is  making  gain  at  another's  expense  is  not  doing 
what  he  would  like  to  have  done  to  himself.  He  is  not  just. 
For  justice  rules  out  taking  unfair  advantage  of  another's 
position,  trading  on  another's  weakness,  ignorance,  or  neces- 
sity, making  gain  for  oneself  by  making  a  victim  of  another 
man.  Is  that  an  easy  principle  to  live  by?  Upon  the  con- 
trary, many  a  man  will  find  it  far  simpler  to  practice  self- 
denying  love  in  home  and  neighborhood  for  a  year,  than  to 
practice  such  ordinary  justice  for  a  single  day  in  business. 

Dig  out  of  us,  O  Lord,  the  venomous  roots  of  covctousness; 
or  else  so  repress  them  with  Thy  grace,  that  we  may  be  con- 
tented with  Thy  provision  of  necessaries,  and  not  to  labour,  as 
zve  do,  with  all  toil,  sleight,  guile;  wrong,  and  oppression,  to 
pamper  ourselves  zvith  vain  superfluities.  Give  us  grace  con- 
tinually to  read,  hear,  and  meditate  Thy  purposes,  judgments, 
promises,  and  precepts,  not  to  the  end  we  may  curiously  argue 
thereof,  or  arrogantly  presume  thereupon,  but  to  fratne  our] 
lives  according  to  Thy  will.  Amen. — Archbishop  E.  Grindal 
(1519-1583)- 

Sixth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

And  he  called  to  him  a  little  child,  and  set  him  in  the 
midst  of  them,  and  said.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Except 
ye  turn,  and  become  as  little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  wise 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  Whosoever  therefore 

95 


[VI-5]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

shall  humble  himself  as  this  little  child,  the  same  is  the 
greatest  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  whoso  shall  re- 
ceive one  such  little  child  in  my  name  receiveth  me:  but 
whoso  shall  cause  one  of  these  little  ones  that  believe  on 
me  to  stumble,  it  is  profitable  for  him  that  a  great  mill- 
stone should  be  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  that  he  should 
be  sunk  in  the  depth  of  the  sea. — Matt.  18:  2-6. 

The  Master  so  often  and  so  rightly  is  regarded  as  the  ex- 
emplar of  sacrificial  love,  that  it  is  well  to  remind  ourselves, 
as  we  are  doing  this  week,  how  much  of  his  teaching  is  an 
appeal  for  justice.  To  wrong  children,  to  refuse  them  a  fair 
chance  to  become  all  that  they  have  it  in  them  to  be,  to  make 
them  stumble,  and  above  all  to  use  up  their  slender  strength 
for  our  selfish  benefit  is  not  first  of  all  lack  of  charity;  it. is 
outrageous  injustice,  against  which  the  Master's  spirit  flames 
in  anger.  No  one  would  wish  his  own  childhood  to  have  been 
so  treated.  "Some  think  we  shall  be  born  again  on  this 
earth  under  conditions  such  as  we  have  deserved,"  writes  Pro- 
fessor Rauschenbusch.  "It  would  certainly  be  a  righteous 
judgment  of  God  if  he  placed  us  amid  the  conditions  we  have 
created  and  allowed  us  to  test  in  our  own  body  the  after- 
effects of  our  life.  How  would  a  man  feel  if  he  knew  that 
the  little  daughter  that  died  in  his  arms  twelve  years  ago  was 
born  as  the  child  of  one  of  his  mill  hands  and  is  spinning  his 
cotton  at  this  moment?"  Is  not  that  a  plain,  straightforward 
application  of  the  Golden  Rule?  Evidently  the  appeal  from 
love  to  justice  is  not  an  easy  one  to  live  up  to. 

O  Thou  great  Father  of  the  weak,  lay  Thy  hand  tenderly 
on  all  the  little  children  on  earth  and  bless  them.  Be  good  to 
all  children  who  long  in  vdin  for  human  love,  or  for  nowcrs 
and  water,  and  the  sweet  breast  of  Nature.  But  bless  with  a 
sevenfold  blessing  the  young  lives  whose  slender  shoulders 
are  already  bowed  beneath  the  yoke  of  toil,  and  whose  glad 
growth  is  being  stunted  forever.  Suffer  not  their  little  bodies 
to  be  utterly  sapped,  and  their  minds  to  be  given  over  to  stu- 
pidity and  the  vices  *of  an  empty  soul.  We  have  all  jointly 
deserved  the  millstone  of  Thy  wrath  for  making  these  little 
ones  to  stumble  and  fall.  Grant  all  employers  of  labor  stout 
hearts  to  refuse  enrichment  at  such  a  price.  Grant  to  all  the 
citizens  and  officers  of  states  which  now  permit  this  wrong 
the  grace  of  holy  anger.  Help  us  to  realize  that  every  child 
of  our  nation  is  in  very  truth  our  child,  a  member  of  our  great 

96 


JUSTICE  [VI-6] 

family.  By  the  Holy  Child  that  nestled  in  Mary's  bosom;  by 
the  memories  of  our  own  childhood  joys  and  sorrows;  by  the 
sacred  possibilities  that  slumber  in  every  child,  we  beseech 
Thee  to  save  us  from  killing  the  sweetness  of  young  life  by  the 
greed  of  gain. — Walter  Rauschenbusch. 

Sixth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

See  that  ye  despise  not  one  of  these  little  ones:  for  I 
say  unto  you,  that  in  heaven  their  angels  do  always  behold 
the  face  of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.  How  think  ye? 
if  any  man  have  a  hundred  sheep,  and  one  of  them  be  gone 
astray,  doth  he  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine,  and  go  unto 
the  mountains,  and  seek  that  which  goeth  astray?  And 
if  so  be  that  he  find  it,  verily  I  say  unto  you,  he  rejoiceth 
over  it  more  than  over  the  ninety  and  nine  which  have  not 
gone  astray.  Even  so  it  is  not  the  will  of  your  Father 
who  is  in  heaven,  that  one  of  these  little  ones  should 
perish. — Matt.  18: 10-14. 

Here  is  a  characteristic  expression  of  the  Master's  out- 
reaching  mercy  toward  the  weak,  the  strayed,  the  lost.  Surely 
such  an  attitude  of  positive  saviorhood  involves  more  than 
justice.  Yet  when  one  takes  the  Golden  Rule  seriously,  and 
asks  himself  what  he  would  wish  done,  were  he  in  the  place 
of  the  victim,  will  he  not  run  straight  into  the  necessity  of 
outgoing  love?  A  man  lost  in  the  Welsh  mountains  in  a 
heavy  fog  gave  himself  up  to  the  prospect  of  a  miserable 
night;  when  suddenly,  as  though  at  his  very  elbow,  he  heard 
a  voice :  "I  wonder  if  he  could  have  come  this  way."  He  was 
being  searched  for !  The  consciousness  that  some  one  was 
looking  for  him  and  that  therefore  he  could  be  found  thrilled 
through  him.  In  any  such  situation,  would  not  we  wish  so 
to  be  cared  about  and  sought?  Then  what  does  the  Golden 
Rule  mean,  if  not  that  positive  saviorhood  is  also  the  demand 
of  justice!'  After  all,  justice  and  love  run  very  close  to- 
gether. "We  can  be  just  only  to  those  we  love." 

We  beseech  of  Thee,  O  Lord  our  God,  that  Thou  wilt  have 
compassion  upon  all  those  for  whom  we  should  pray;  those 
that  are  thralled;  those  that  arc  ensnared;  those 'that  have 
fallen  into  the  pit ;  those  that  arc  in  great  darkness  and  trouble 
and  gloom  and  despondency ;  those  who  are  sick ;  those  whose 
prosperity  has  been  overturned  as  by  the  wind  from  the  desert ; 
those  who  are  strangers  in  a  strange  land;  those  who  are 

97 


[VI-7]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

filled  with  bitterness  and  self-condemnation;  those  that  taste 
remorse ;  those  that  are  neglected  and  outcast;  those  who  are 
in  prison,  and  who  are  appointed  unto  death;  all  that  are  wan- 
dering in  poverty  and  abandonment;  all  that  are  steeped  in 
ignorance,  in  vice,  and  in  crime. 

O  good  Lord,  what  dost  Thou  do?  Is  this  world  dear  to 
Thee?  Dost  Thou  love  man?  Our  souls  shake' within  us,  and 
we  are  full  of  anguish  when  we  look  upon  the  face  of  man, 
and  see  how  men  betray;  how  men  hate  and  devour;  how  full 
of  wretchedness  and  sin  the  world  is,  that  goes  on  repeating 
itself  from  generation  to  generation;  how  the  voice  of  time 
is  a  wail;  hozv  all  things  are  most  sad  to  behold.  And  dost, 
Thou  sit  looking  forevermore  upon  these  things?  0  Lord, 
reveal  the  right  hand  of  Thy  power.  Come ;  for  this  desolate 
earth  doth  wait  for  Thy  coming,  more  than  for  the  coming 
of  summer.  Amen. — Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

Sixth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Ye  have  heard  that  it  was  said,  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor,  and  hate  thine  enemy:  but  I  say  unto  you,  Love 
your  enemies,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute  you;  that 
ye  may  be  sons  of  your  Father  who  is  in  heaven:  for  he 
maketh  his  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  the  good,  and  send- 
eth  rain  on  the  just  and  the  unjust. — Matt.  5 :  43-45. 

One  would  suppose  that  loving  one's  enemies  and  doing 
them  good  were  practices  which  clearly  overpassed  justice. 
Yet  the  Master  here  distinctly  appeals  for  them  on  the  basis 
of  that  fine  impartiality  which  we  ourselves  have  profited  by 
and  which  is  of  the  very  essence  of  a  just  and  equitable  life. 
Consider  the  impartial  service  which  a  lighthouse  keeper 
renders  to  all  the  wayfarers  of  the  sea !  Good  men  and  bad 
men  pass  in  the  night-going  ships,  but  he  shines  on  all.  If 
his  worst  enemy  were  passing  and  he  knew  it.  he  would  not 
dim  his  light.  He  is  magnanimous.  He  allows  no  personal 
petulance,  no  selfish  pique,  to  interfere  with  his  steady  benefi- 
cence. Such  an  impartial  spirit,  unswayed  by  individual  re- 
sentment,is  of  the  very  substance  of  justice. 

Justice  does  not  include  all  that  love  does.  Love  goes 
deeper,  is  more  intense,  will  sacrifice  more,  and  carries  in  its 
heart  a  personal  self-bestowal  which  justice  alone  does  not 
know.  But  if  the  Golden  Rule  is  its  summary,  justice  is 

98 


JUSTICE  [VI-c] 

something  far  beyond  the  infliction  of  appropriate  penalties. 
When  a  man  does  as  he  would  be  done  by,  he  judges  fairly, 
speaks  kindly,  refuses  to  exploit  personality  for  private  gain, 
protects  the  weak,  rescues  the  fallen,  and  treats  even  his 
enemies  as  though  they  might  some  day  become  his  friends. 

O  God,  who  has  taught  us  in  Thy  holy  Word  that  we  must 
always  do  to  others  as  zve  would  they  should  do  to  us:  give 
me  grace  to  cleanse  my  heart  and  hands  from  all  falsehood 
and  zvrong,  that  I  may  hurt  nobody  by  word  or  deed,  but  be 
true  and  just  in  all  my  dealings  and  do  my  duty  in  that  state 
of  life  into  which  it  shall  please  Thee  to  call  me,  that  so  keep- 
ing innocency  and  taking  heed  to  the  thing  that  is  right,  I  may 
obtain  peace  at  the  last  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ,  Thy  Son, 
our  Lord.  Amen. — "A  Book  of  Prayers  for  Students." 

COMMENT    FOR   THE   WEEK 
I 

Self-denying  service,  such  as  we  have  been  considering,  so 
far  from  being  difficult  and  unnatural,  is  in  some  of  our  rela- 
tionships happily  spontaneous.  For  there  are  people  whom  we 
love  with  eager,  self-forgetful  affection.  To  argue  with  us 
that  we  should  serve  them  is  absurd.  A  true  mother,  does 
not  need  argument  that  she  should  care  for  her  child,  nor  a 
true  lover  that  he  should  give  himself  in  loyal  service  to  the 
girl  whom  he  adores.  Nature  herself  plays  upon  our  instincts 
to  secure  such  self-bestowals  as  we  lavishly  pour  out  in  family 
love  and  intimate  friendship.  Without  the  privilege  of  giving 
vent  to  love  in  ministry,  we  should  be  utterly  bereft ;  the 
acutest  agony  we  can  imagine  would  be  the  stoppage  of  our 
power  to  help  those  whose  hearts  are  ours. 

Outside  this  inner  area  of  intimate  friendships,  however, 
there  are  wide  stretches  of  human  relations  where  such  ten- 
derness of  affection  does  not  apply.  Whatever  may  be  the 
ideal,  the  fact  is  evident :  there  are  vulgar  people  from  whom 
we  shrink,  bestial  people  who  are  repellent  to  us,  unfriendly 
people  whose  unkindness  we  resent.  There  are  racial  boun- 
daries across  which  affectionate  relationships  do  not  easily 
pass ;  cultural  boundaries  where,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  our  the- 
oretical brotherhood  encounters  practical  difficulties.  More- 
over, there  are  criminally  minded  people,  cruel  and  conscience- 
less, whose  depredations  on  society  must  be  hated  and  with- 

99 


[VI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

stood.  In  a  word,  there  are  multitudes  of  people  whom  we  do 
not  like.  To  be  told  to  love  them  seems  a  counsel  of  perfec- 
tion, not  to  be  taken  seriously  in  daily  life. 

One  attitude  toward  them,  however,  we  all  agree  is  both 
(possible  and  right.  We  can  be  just.  So  at  a  football  game 
one  cannot  easily  imagine  the  coaches  urging  the  opposing 
players  to  love  one  another.  But  one  can  easily  imagine  the 
coaches  saying:  Young  men,  you  will  play  this  game  fairly; 
you  will  take  for  yourselve  no  advantage  that  you  would  deny 
to  others;  you  will  be  just. 

It  is  of  the  first  importance,  therefore,  that  we  should  see 
what  is  involved  in  the  idea  of  justice.  As  there  are  master- 
pieces of  literature,  like  Milton's  "Paradise  Lost,"  which  all 
agree  to  praise,  but  which  few  read,  so  there  are  virtues  which 
all  applaud  but  few  examine.  Justice  is  one  of  them.  Men 
may  differ  about  loving  everyone,  but  they  agree  concerning 
the  duty  of  being  just  to  everyone.  Yet  the  unappreciated 
depth  and  height  and  breadth  of  this  applauded  virtue  is  at 
once  suggested  by  the  fact  that  its  most  succinct,  complete 
description  is  the  Golden  Rule.  Consider  what  large  matters 
are  involved  in  that ! 

The  keeping  of  the  Golden  Rule  is  quite  impossible  without 
the  use  of  generous  and  sympathetic  imagination.  No  man 
can  do  to  another  what  he  wishes  another  to  do  to  him,  unless 
he  has  the  gracious  power  to  put  himself  in  another's  place. 
Two  boys  in  the  depth  of  New  York  City  were  overheard  in 
controversy :  "I  can  write" ;  "I  can,  too" ;  "You  can't" ;  "I 
can";  "Prove  it."  And  the  challenged  lad  took  from  his 
pocket  a  piece  of  chalk  and  scribbled  on  a  brick  wall  the 
words  "Keep  off  the  grass."  Can  you  who  were  brought  up 
where  grass  was  green  and  plentiful,  and  all  the  countryside 
was  open  to  your  wandering  feet,  put  yourself  into  that  boy's 
place?  Yet  if  you  were  that  boy,  who  could  handle  fairly  the 
delicate  scales  of  judgment  save  one  who  could  see  your  prob- 
lem from  within  ? 

A  critic  has  said  of  Robert  Browning  that  he  was  born 
with  a  passion  for  living  in  other  people's  experiences — "Rabbi 
ben  Ezra,"  "Fra  Lippo  Lippi,"  "Andrea  del  Sarto,"  "Bishop 
Blougram,"  the  characters  in  "The  Ring  and  the  Book,"  and 
a  host  of  others.  He  saw  their  points  of  view,  he  thought 
their  thoughts,  he  said  the  things  they  had  to  say.  What  the 
master  of  verse  did  for  art's  sake,  the  Master  of  spiritual  life 

100 


JUSTICE  [VI-c] 

did  for  the  sake  of  service.  He  saw  by  sympathy  the  prodi- 
gal's problem  from  within,  when  all  the  Pharisees  around  were 
condemning  him  as  lost.  He  saw  from  within  the  meaning  of 
the  widow's  slender  gift  and  the  passionate  outpouring  of 
Mary's  gratitude  in  costly  oil.  He  saw  from  within  the  way 
life  looked  to  Zacchaeus  and  from  within  he  knew  the  secret 
sifting  of  Peter's  soul  by  Satan.  The  woman  taken  in  adul- 
tery, with  the  crowd  of  angry  men  around,  their  robes  girt 
up,  and  stones  in  hand  to  slay  her — even  her  problem  he  saw 
from  within,  and  perceived  in  her  what  no  one  looking  from 
without  could  possibly  have  guessed.  Whoever  kept  to  the 
full  the  Golden  Rule  except  the  Master?  It  is  not  easy  to 
keep.  No  one  is  just  who  does  not  put  himself  in  the  place 
of  those  with  whom  he  deals.  And  to  do  that  one  must  see 
men  as  he  does  stained  glass  in  a  cathedral  window,  not  from 
without  in,  but  from  within  out. 

John  Wesley  tells  us  of  a  man  against  whom  year  after 
year  his  choler  rose.  He  thought  of  him  contemptuously  as 
covetous.  One  day  when  he  gave  to  one  of  Wesley's  favorite 
philanthropies  a  gift  that  seemed  too  small,  Wesley's  indigna- 
tion burst  all  bounds,  and  he  raked  him  fore  and  aft  with 
scathing  condemnation.  Wesley  tells  us  in  his  diary  that  the 
man  quietly  said :  "I  know  a  man  who  at  the  week's  beginning 
goes  to  the  market  and  buys  a  penny's  worth  of  parsnips  and 
takes  them  home  to  boil  in  water,  and  all  that  week  he  has 
the  parsnips  for  his  meat  and  the  water  for  his  drink;  and 
meat  and  drink  alike  cost  him  a  penny  a  week."  "Who  is  the 
man?"  said  Wesley.  "I  am,"  was  the  reply.  And  Wesley 
adds.  "This  he  constantly  did,  although  he  then  had  two  hun- 
dred pounds  a  year,  that  he  might  pay  the  debts  he  had  con- 
tracted before  he  knew  God.  And  this  was  the  man  that  I  had 
thought  to  be  covetous."  We  cannot  be  just  to  anyone  whom 
we  do  not  understand.  If,  then,  we  agree  that  across  all 
boundaries  of  personal  dislike  and  racial  difference  we  should 
be  just,  we  set  for  ourselves  a  task  that  will  take  all  the 
insight  and  generosity  we  have. 

II 

Moreover,  to  do  to  others  what  we  wish  them  to  do  to  us 
involves  not  only  sympathy,  but  active  good  will.  Who  of  us 
has  not  been  served  with  constant,  sacrificial  care,  by  family 

101 


[VI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

and  friends ;  and  lacking  such  attendant  ministry  would  not 
have  slipped  and  fallen  on  ruin,  moral  and  practical,  a  hun- 
dred times?  So  Wendell  Phillips  might  magnificently  sway 
his  hostile  audiences,  and  seem  the  very  incarnation  of  audac- 
ity,, but  those  who  know  perceive  behind  him  his  wife,  invalid 
in  everything  but  spirit,  who  used  to  lay  her  hand  upon  his 
shoulder  with  a  parting  charge :  "Wendell,  don't  you  shilly- 
shally !"  So  George  Matheson  may  claim  the  homage  of  the 
world  for  his  brave  victory  over  blindn"ess,  but  those  who 
know  perceive  the  truth  of  his  biographer's  comment :  "The 
chief  factor,  undoubtedly,  in  his  harmonious,  successful,  and 
marvelously  fruitful  .life,  was  his  sister,  Miss  Matheson." 
To  do  for  others  what  we  desire  to  have  done  for  us.  is  not 
a  negative  ideal.  Too  often  justice  is  pictured  in  terms  of 
abstinence  from  rank  injustice.  Not  to  be  cruel,  not  to  op- 
press the  poor  or  to  crush  the  faces  of  the  needy,  that  is  to  be 
just.  But  the  Golden  Rule  cannot  so  negatively  be  kept.  Jus- 
tice is  positive.  It  means  the  painstaking  bestowal  upon  other 
lives  of  the  same  sort  of  constant,  sacrificial  ministry  by  which 
we  ourselves  have  lived  and  without  which  we  could  not  really 
1  live  at  all. 

Consider  so  elemental  a  relationship  as  that  between  a  father 
and  his  son.  All  that  is  best  in  the  father's  life  came  from  the 
impact  of  friendly  persons.  Like  a  lake  with  two  outlets  far 
up  in  the  Rockies,  where  a  passing  breeze  sends  the  water  to 
the  east  until  it  finds  the  Mississippi  and  the  Gulf,  or  to  the 
west  until  it  flows  to  the  Pacific,  so  was  that  father's  life  in 
boyhood.  He  might  have  flowed  down  either  slope,  and  if 
he  did  flow  aright,  it  was  because  some  strong,  radiant  spirits 
blew  persuasively  upon  him.  The  justice  of  a  father  to  his 
son,  therefore,  is  no  negative  refraining  from  ill  treatment. 
It  is  a  positive  outpouring  on  the  boy's  life  of  that  companion- 
ship, which,  were  he  a  boy  again,  the  father  would  crave  for 
himself.  If,  remembering  what  it  costs  a  boy  to  grow  up 
right  amid  the  terrific  lure  of  sin,  the  father  had  to  live  his 
youth  again,  he  would  wish  his  father  to  take  time  to  know 
him  very  well ;  for  all  the  pressure  of  busy  days  to  lay  his 
life  close  alongside  in  fraternal  comradeship ;  to  be,  when 
one  desires  not  talk  but  help,  a  constant  and  unfailing  friend; 
above  all,  to  lift  up  a  Christian  character  so  winsome,  strong, 
convincing,  that  in  the  fiercest  storms  that  beat  on  life,  the 
thought  of  it  would  hold  as  an  anchor  holds  a  ship. 

1 02 


JUSTICE  [VI-c] 

Now  justice  does  not  cease  making  this  demand  for  active- 
good  will  when  one  moves  out  from  the  inner  realm  of  affec- 
tionate relationships  into  the  wider  areas  where  personal  affec- 
tion does  not  instinctively  extend.  When  in  imagination 
anyone  puts  himself  in  the  place  of  the  disinherited,  the  for- 
saken, the  outcast,  however  unlovely  and  degraded  they  may 
be,  he  at  once  is  crying  for  help.  Father  Damien  goes  out  to- 
the  lepers  because  he  knows  that  if  he  were  a  leper  he  would 
not  wish  to  be  left  in  hapless,  unbefriended  isolation,  unre- 
lieved by  any  touch  of  human  kindliness.  Florence  Night- 
ingale goes  out  to  the  Crimea  because  she  knows  that  if  she 
were  a  wounded  soldier  brought  in  from  the  battlefield,  she 
would  not  want  to  toss  in  pain  unnursed  by  a  woman's  gentle- 
ness. Pioneers  blaze  the  trail  of  medical  missions,  because- 
they  know  that  if  means  of  healing  were  anywhere  available, 
they  would  not  wish  to  lie  in  needless  pain  or  see  their  loved? 
ones  die  in  agony  amid  the  rattle  of  witch  doctors'  drums.  If 
once  the  Golden  Rule  were  seriously  taken,  if  men  in  earnest 
put  themselves  in  the  place  of  all  oppressed,  benighted  folk,, 
unbefriended,  and  cheated  of  their  share  in  civilization's  gains,, 
and  if  in  earnest  they  set  themselves  to  do  for  them  what  they 
themselves  in  similar  case  would  need,  there  would  come  a- 
world-wide  transformation  of  social  life. 

The  far-flung  meanings  of  the  Golden  Rule  are  evident, 
when  a  man  puts  himself  in  the  place  of  young  men  and 
women  who  have  gone  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  for  Christian 
service.  As  during  the  War  the  most  alert  and  venturesome 
spirits  sought  France,  desiring  the  post  of  danger  at  the  front, 
so  many  daring  Christian  spirits  among  our  youth  turn  their 
faces  toward  the  foreign  field.  If  he  were  one  of  them,  above 
all  else  a  man  would  desire  that  the  Christian  people  at  home 
should  support  his  work  with  instruments  of  service  to  make 
his  toil  effective.  He  offers  up  the  most  precious  thing  a. 
man  can  give — his  life.  He  passionately  craves  that  his  invest- 
ment of  life  shall  be  effective.  To  do  lamely  what  could  be 
done  well  with  decent  instruments — that  is  desolating.  To 
stand  in  a  great  city  where  the  sick  and  dying  gather  about 
him,  like  the  sick  round  Jesus  in  the  streets  of  old  Caper- 
naum, to  have  for  investment  in  that  great  need  the  best  medi- 
cal education  that  modern  science  can  bestow,  and  yet  to  have 
no  adequate  hospital,  few  nurses,  no  associates,  to  be  com- 
pelled to  do  feebly  what  could  be  done  magnificently — that 

103 


IVI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

is  crushing.  When  a  man  sees  missions  and  philanthropy  not 
in  abstract  terms  but  interpreted  in  concrete  personalities, 
and  imagines  himself  to  be  one  of  them,  he  sees  how  wide  is 
the  scope  and  how  searching  the  requirement  of  justice  in 
realms  where  affection  does  not  apply. 

Justice  says :  You  are  a  white  man.  Then  put  yourself 
in  the  place  of  the  Negro,  whose  father  was  freed  when  he 
was  a  youth,  and  whose  great-great-great-grandfather  was 
brought  over  against  his  will  on  a  slave  ship  from  Africa, 
and  see  from  the  inside,  how  the  problem  of  that  man's  life 
must  appear  to  him.  You  are  an  American.  Put  yourself 
in  the  place  of  Britain,  and  France,  and  Italy,  and  Japan,  and 
China,  and  those  who  but  lately  were  our  enemies,  to  see  how 
this  tangled  world's  problem  must  appear  to  them !  You  are 
a  laboring  man.  Put  yourself  in  the  place  of  the  employer, 
and  see  from  his  angle  the  perplexing  problem  of  our  eco- 
nomic life.  You  are  an  employer.  Then  put  yourself  in  the 
place  of  the  laboring  man,  to  see  how  his  life  must  appear  to 
him.  Justice  is  not  less  exacting  than  emotional  affection, 
but. more.  It  applies  in  realms  where  affection  does  not  move, 
jit  holds  a  man  to  understanding  sympathy  and  generous  good 
I  will  toward  people  whom  instinctively  he  may  dislike.  At 
last  it  leads  him  to  attack  the  organized  injustice  of  our  social 
and  economic  order,  not-  because  he  himself  is  hurt,  but 
because  others  are  oppressed,  in  whose  place  he  has  imagined 
himself  to  be. 

Ill 

This  extension  of  the  Golden  Rule  into  areas  of  human 
relationship  where  our  affections  do  not  easily  go  meets  its 
greatest  difficulty  when  it  deals  with  positively  unfriendly  folk. 
Sympathy  and  good  will  may  justly  be  expended  upon  some 
people  beyond  the  borders  of  our  emotional  tenderness,  but 
can  it  be  just  to  give  one's  self  in  generous  ministry  to  ene- 
mies? Is  not  justice  comprehended  in  the  old  law  of  Leviti- 
cus (24:20)  "Breach  for  breach,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for 
tooth ;  as  he  hath  caused  a  blemish  in  a  man,  so  shall  it  be 
rendered  unto  him"?  Such  strict  retribution  appears  just, 
but  the  Master's  command  to  love  our  enemies  and  do  them 
good  seems  far  to  overpass  the  limits  of  fair  play. 

Yet  the  fact  is  that  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  not  the 
denial  but  the  fulfilment  of  the  Levitical  law.  In  an  age  of 

104 


JUSTICE  [VI-c] 

barbarous  morals,  when  none  disputed  the  right  of  vengeance, 
this  old  law  was  set  up  to  restrain  the  extravagant  wrath  of 
angry  men.  Its  message  is  not:  you  may  return  to  a  man 
whatever  harm  he  has  done  to  you.  *  Its  message  is  rather : 
you  may  not  return  to  a  man  more  harm  than  he  has  done 
to  you.  Eye  for  an  eye,  tooth  for  a  tooth — so  much  revenge 
you  may  take,  if  you  must;  no  more. 

What  youth  has  not  known  hours  when  he  was  goaded  to 
ungovernable  rage?  He  lost  his  hold  upon  the  throttle  of  his 
temper.  He  assailed  his  enemy  with  a  mad  desire  to  satisfy 
the  anger  he  could  not  control.  All  calculations  of  exact 
retribution  were  forgotten.  There  was  no  nice  estimate  of 
proposed  damage  to  the  foe.  Ability  was  the  limit  of  pur- 
pose. Consider  in  such  a  case  the  restraint  imposed  by  the  old 
law  :  exact  retaliation,  no  more !  The  commandment  in  Leviti- 
cus was  intended  to  set  limits  to  the  vindictiveness  of  angry 
men.  The  river  of  vengeance  might  flow  on;  the  time  had 
not  yet  come  utterly  to  dry  its  springs ;  but  the  stream  had 
banks.  When  therefore  the  Master  annulled  what  Leviticus 
had  limited,  he  was  not  destroying  the  law  but  was  fulfilling  j 
it;  he  was  carrying  an  ethical  reform  to  its  logical  conclusion.' 

That  this  logical  conclusion  to  the  old  law  of  retaliation  is 
indispensable  ought  to  be  evident  to  even  ordinary  moral 
insight.  For  one  thing,  the  principle  of  tit  for  tat  makes  too 
small  business  for  a  real  life  to  be  preoccupied  about.  Even 
in  legal  procedure  the  rule  of  an  eye  for  an  eye  issues  in 
absurdity.  In  the  code  of  Henry  I,  one  finds  this,  law:  if  a 
boy  standing  under  a  tree  is  killed  by  another  boy  who  falls 
upon  him  out  of  the  tree,  then  the  boy  who  fell  and  did  the 
killing  must  in  his  turn  stand  under  a  tree  and  let  another  boy 
fall  on  him  until  he  dies.  The  ridiculous  pettiness  of  such  a 
legal  principle  is  obvious ;  yet  to  that  pass  is  anyone  led  who 
takes  seriously  the  law  of  retaliation.  To  go  through  life 
slapping  back  each  time  one  is  slapped,  is  the  cheapest  form 
of  wasting  life. 

After  Appomattox,  when  Robert  E.  Lee  was  President  of 
Washington  College,  a  professor  derided  Grant  harshly  in 
his  presence.  In  swift  indigation  Lee  thundered:  "Sir,  if  ever 
I  hear  you  speak  again  in  my  presence  disrespectfully  of  Gen- 
eral Grant,  either  you  or  I  will  sever  his  connection  with  this 
institution."  A  man  in  earnest  about  serious  tasks  has  no 
time  for  vindictiveness.  The  Master,  with  the  salvation  of  the 

105 


[VI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

world  upon  his  heart,  praying  "Thy  Kingdom  come"  with  pas- 
sionate desire,  could  not  be  expected  to  content  himself  with 
the  narrow  vengefulness  of  the  Levitical  law.  Retaliation  is 
a  rule  of  little  men;  retaliation  makes  little  men.  Large  spirits 
always  are  magnanimous.  They  even  "love  their  enemies  and 
do  them  good." 

Moreover,  the  law  of  an  eye  for  an  eye  is  inadequate  because 
it  makes  no  provision  for  the  betterment  of  evil  men.  Even 
the  stern  business  of  criminal  law  is  discovering  this.  As  late 
as  1833,  in  England,  we  are  informed  that,  "Sentence  of  death 
was  passed  on  a  child  of  nine  who  poked  a  stick  through  a 
pane  of  glass  in  a  shop  front  and  stole  some  pieces  of  paint 
worth  two-pence.  This  was  housebreaking  and  the  penalty  of 
housebreaking  was  death."  Even  though  after  delay  that 
sentence  was  commuted,  it  illustrates  the  appalling  course  of 
legal  cruelty  in  Christendom.  And  if  little  by  little  the  torture 
chamber,  the  racks  and  thumbscrews,  the  public  pillories  and 
whipping  posts,  the  barbarous  executions  on  wayside  gibbets, 
the  loathsome  dungeons,  are  vanishing  like  nightmares  when 
the  sun  rises,  and  prisons  increasingly  are  reformatory  in 
their  aim,  it  is  not  mawkish  sentiment  that  motives  the 
change,  but  the  sound  sense  of  the  Master.  Retaliation  gets 
nowhere.  It  is  not  only  barbarous  but  it  is  stupid.  Think  of 
going  out  to  save  manhood  with  this  device  upon  our  ban- 
ners, "Tit  for  tat,"  and  with  this  for  our  slogan,  "When  you 
are  slapped,  slap  back!"  The  only  aim  worth  seeking  is  bet- 
ter, men  in  a  more  decent  world  and  the  law  of  an  eye  for 
an  eye  is  a  futile  instrument  for  such  an  enterprise. 

IV 

Not  only  does  retaliation  turn  out  to  be  too  petty  for  large- 
minded  men  and  too  feeble  for  serious  purposes,  but  despite 
the  first  appearance,  it  is  not  just.  No  one  of  us  dares  to 
suggest  that  he  himself  be  treated  on  the  principle  of  tit  for 
tat.  The  parable  of  Jesus,  where  a  servant,  pardoned  a  debt 
of  twelve  million  dollars,  goes  out  to  choke  a  fellow-servant 
who  owed  him  seventeen  dollars,  cuts  deep  into  the  truth  about 
us  all.  Such  churlishness  was  not  fair  play.  The  pardoned 
debtor  was  refusing  to  another  the  forgiveness  which  he  had 
himself  received.  He  was  taking  what  he  would  not  give. 
So  are  we  all  pensioners  on  mercy,  human  and  divine,  and 

106 


JUSTICE  [VI-c] 

long  since  would  have  been  utterly  undone  if  retaliation  with- 
out mercy  had  been  given  us.  With  no  more  sustenance  than 
the  principle  of  tit  for  tat  can  furnish,  all  the  most  beautiful 
human  relationships  would  starve  and  die.  From  mothers  who 
love  before  love  is  appreciated  and  keep  on  loving  when  it  is 
not  appreciated,  to  the  world's  saints  and  martyrs,  prophets 
and  apostles,  who  love  human  weal  and  serve  it  through  the 
gainsaying  and  persecution  of  the  very  men  they  seek  to  help, 
our  lives  are  all  upborne  by  mercies  which  we  have  not  de- 
served and  for  which  we  can  never  pay.  And  when  one  lifts 
his  thought  to  God's  judgment  of  him,  he  sees  that  he  would 
have  no  hope  if  the  Great  White  Throne  were  marked  all  over 
with  the  motto,  "Tit  for  tat."  Let  a  man  face  the  mercies 
he  already  has  received  from  family  and  friends,  the  unearned 
benedictions  he  already  has  been  given,  bought  by  other  blood 
than  his  and  the  toil  of  other  hands,  the  forgiveness  he  has 
needed  and  will  need  again  from  sources  human  and  divine, 
and  then  let  him  face  the  Golden  Rule !  He  will  see  that  the 
Lord's  Prayer  is  urging  him  to  simple  justice:  "Forgive  us  our 
trespasses  as  we  forgive  them  who  trespass  against  us." 

The  justice  of  the  Golden  Rule  involves  understanding  sym- 
pathy, active  good  will,  and  far-flung  service.  Its  kingdom  is 
wider  than  the  narrow  realm  where  our  intimate  affections 
dwell.  It  takes  in  even  enemies.  Only  by  such  justice  does 
a  man  contribute  to  life  what  to  make  living  rich  and  worthy 
he  must  take  from  life.  Only  so  does  he  find  in  himself  the 
answer  to  an  old  prayer  of  the  sixteenth  century — a  Christian's 
plea  for  a  just  spirit: 

"Open  our  hearts,  O  Lord,  that  we  may  be  no  less  moved 
at  the  needs  and  griefs  of  our  neighbors  than  if  they  were 
our  own.  O  most  mild  and  merciful  Christ,  breathe  upon  us 
the  spirit  of  Thy  meekness  and  Thy  goodness  that,  as  Thy 
pitying  of  us  made  Thee  endure  most  bitter  death  and  tor- 
ment for  our  sake,  so  our  pitying  of  our  neighbors  may  lead 
us  to  succor  them." 


107 


CHAPTER  VII 

Small  Enemies  of  Usefulness 

DAILY    READINGS 

We  have  been  speaking  of  the  spirit  and  practice  of  service 
as  the  necessary  and  beautiful  expression  of  a  Christian  life. 
But  here  as  everywhere  else,  the  perversion  of  the  best  is  the 
worst.  As  Bunyan  found  a  passage  to  hell  from  under  the 
walls  of  the  celestial  city,  so  are  there  ways  to  unlovely  use- 
lessness  that  run  out  from  the  very  desire  and  intention  to 
be  of  use.  Let  us  consider  this  week  some  of  these  perver- 
sions of  service. 

Seventh  Week,  First  Day 

For  we  hear  of  some  that  walk  among  you  disorderly, 
that  work  not  at  all,  but  are  busybodies.  Now  them  that 
are  such  we  command  and  exhort  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  with  quietness  they  work,  and  eat  their  own 
bread. — II  Thess.  3:  n,  12. 

For  let  none  of  you  suffer  as  a  murderer,  or  a  thief,  or 
an  evil-doer,  or  as  a  meddler  in  other  men's  matters:  but 
if  a  man  suffer  as  a  Christian,  let  him  not  be  ashamed;  but 
let  him  glorify  God  in  this  name. — I  Peter  4: 15,  16. 

One  of  the  commonest  caricatures  of  usefulness  is  meddle- 
someness. Intent  on  helping  folk,  we  become  busybodies ;  we 
assume  responsibility  where  we  are  not  wanted ;  we  intrude 
ourselves  where  we  would  have  helped  more  by  minding  our 
own  business ;  our  overweening  ambition  to  do  something  for 
somebody  makes  our  very  presence  a  vexation.  How  many 
such  folk  there  are !  Desiring  to  be  useful,  they  become  pre- 
sumptuous, officious,  and  obtrusive.  They  lack  reticence,  hu- 
mility, tact.  Their  desire  to  help  is  commendable,  but  its  effect 
is  spoiled  by  their  own  loudness,  awkwardness,  impertinence. 
They  have  generosity,  but  they  lack  discrimination.  After  all, 
no  amount  of  zeal  can  make  up  for  the  want  of  modesty  and 

108 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-2] 

good  sense  in  service.  Those  who  help  most  are  often  not 
those  who  try  hardest,  but  those  who,  like  a  full-laden  apple 
tree,  are  so  rich  in  their  own  spiritual  fruitage  that  no  one 
can  brush  against  a  branch  without  bringing  down  something 
good  to  eat.  Many  a  hurried,  fuming,  pushing,  presumptuous 
worker  for  the  help  of  others  might  well  pause  to  consider 
another  type  of  spirit : 

"An  incidental  greatness  charactered 
Her  unconsidered  ways." 

Lord,  let  me  be  ever  courteous  and  easie  to  be  entreated; 
never  let  me  fall  into  a  peevish  or  contentious  Spirit,  but  fol- 
low Peace  with  all  Men,  offering  forgiveness,  inviting  them  by 
Courtesies,  ready  to  Confess  my  own  Errors,  apt  to  make 
amends  and  desirous  to  be  reconcil'd.  Let  no  Sickness  or 
Cross  Accident,  no  Imployment  or  Weariness  make  me  angry 
or  ungentle,  and  discontented  or  unthankful  or  uncasie.  Give 
me  the  Spirit  of  a  Christian,  Charitable,  Humble,  Merciful, 
and  Meek,  Useful  and  Liberal,  Complying  zvith  every  Chance, 
Angry  at  nothing  but  my  own  Sins,  and  Grieving  at  the  Sins 
of  Others.  That  ivhile  my  Passion  obeys  my  Reason,  and 
my  Reason  is  Religious,  and  my  Religion  is  pure  and  unde- 
filed,  managed  zvith  Humility,  and  adorn'd  with  Charity,  I 
may  divcll  in  Thy  Love,  and  be  Thy  Son  and  Servant  for  ever, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Thomas  a  Kempis 
(1379-1471). 

Seventh  Week,  Second  Day 

If  there  is  therefore  any  exhortation  in  Christ,  if  any 
consolation  of  love,  if  any  fellowship  of  the  Spirit,  if  any 
tender  mercies  and  compassions,  make  full  my  joy,  that  ye 
be  of  the  same  mind,  having  the  same  love,  being  of  one 
accord,  of  one  mind;  doing  nothing  through  faction  or 
through  vainglory,  but  in  lowliness  of  mind  each  counting 
other  better  than  himself;  not  looking  each  of  you  to  his 
own  things,  but  each  of  you  also  to  the  things  of  others. 
—Phil.  2:  1-4. 

Paul  takes  for  granted  here  that  the  Philippian  Christians 
will  practice  mutual  helpfulness,  but  he  is  concerned  about  the 
spirit  in  which  their  service  for  each  other  will  be  bathed. 
That  they  should  be  modest,  whole-hearted,  without  vainglory 
or  condescending  pride,  "humbly  considering  each  other  the 

109 


IVII-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

better  man,"  is,  in  his  eyes,  essential  to  Christian  usefulness. 
For  service  can  be  utterly  spoiled  by  the  opposite  attitude  of 
superciliousness,  condescension,  lordliness.  Service  may  be 
flung  to  people  as  coins  are  flung  to  beggars.  So  Moses,  about 
to  bestow  a  blessing,  cried :  "Hear  now,  ye  rebels ;  shall  we 
bring  you  forth  water  out  of  this  rock?"  He  was  doing  a 
gracious  deed,  but  he  was  not  doing  it  graciously.  A  good 
deal  of  intended  usefulness  is  spoiled  by  this  "flunkeyism  of 
benevolence."  We  condescend  to  people,  we  stoop  when  we 
help,  we  are  secretly  puffed  up  by  the  superiority  which  our 
ability  to  serve  makes  evident.  We  have  not,  as  Paul  points 
out  in  the  succeeding  verses,  "the  mind  of  Christ." 

O  my  God,  enable  me  to  thwart  and  utterly  mortify  my 
cursed  vanity  and  pride,  by  giving  me  strength  to  hide  all  my 
good  in  this  sense:  not  to  speak  to  my  nearest  of  good  deeds 
done,  but  to  do  them  cheerfully  before  Thee  only,  and  to  have 
the  delight  in  making  others  happier  and  better.  Let  me  please 
Thee,  my  Father,  for  I  know  Thou  art  so  good  as  to  be  pleased 
with  Thy  children  who  by  Thy  grace  are  in  any  degree  imbued 
•with  Thy  goodness!  Amen. — Norman  Macleod  (1812-1872). 

Seventh  Week,  Third  Day 

And  why  beholdest  thou  the  mote  that  is  in  thy  brother's 
eye,  but  considerest  not  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own  eye? 
Or  how  wilt  thou  say  to  thy  brother,  Let  me  cast  out  the 
mote  out  of  thine  eye;  and  lo,  the  beam  is  in  thine  own 
eye?  Thou  hypocrite,  cast  out  first  the  beam  out  of  thine 
own  eye;  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the 
mote  out  of  thy  brother's  eye. — Matt.  7:3-5. 

The  notable  fact  in  this  passage  is  the  enthusiasm  for  serv- 
ice on  the  part  of  the  man  with  a  beam  in  his  eye.  He  was 
zealous  to  be  of  use ;  he  was  positively  officious  about  it ;  but 
the  Master  did  not  commend  him.  Sometimes  it  is  easier  to 
work  up  zeal  for  helping  another  than  it  is  to  handle  well  the 
problem  of  one's  own  life.  So  Charles  Dickens,  with  clever 
strokes,  drew  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Jellyby.  To  be  of  use  was 
her  ambition.  So  far  from  being  deliberately  selfish,  she 
was  resolutely  unselfish.  But  her  kind  intentions  all  centered 
about  Borrioboola-Gha  in  Africa.  Her  home  disordered,  her 
children  neglected,  her  most  obvious  duties  slatternly  per- 
formed, she  lavished  her  sentimental,  long  range  interest  upon 

no 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-4] 

a  need  thousands  of  miles  away.  She  wished  well,  but  she 
was  useless.  The  beam  in  her  own  eye  made  negligible  her 
strenuous  ministries  to  the  Africans. 

O  Lord,  our  heavenly  Father,  by  whose  Providence  the 
duties  of  men  are  variously  ordered,  grant  to  us  all  such  a 
spirit  that  we  may  labour  heartily  to  do  our  work  in  our  sev- 
eral stations,  as  serving  one  Master  and  looking  for  one 
reward.  Teach  us  to  put  to  good  account  whatever  talents 
Thou  has  lent  to  us,  and  enable  us  to  redeem  our  time  by 
patience  and  zeal;  through  Jesus  Christ  Thy  Son.  Amen. — 
Bishop  Westcott  (1825-1901). 

Seventh  Week,  Fourth  Day 

For  I  say,  through  the  grace  that  was  given  me,  to 
every  man  that  is  among  you,  not  to  think  of  himself  more 
highly  than  he  ought  to  think;  but  so  to  think  as  to  think 
soberly,  according  as  God  hath  dealt  to  each  man  a  meas- 
ure of  faith.  For  even  as  we  have  many  members  in  one 
body,  and  all  the  members  have  not  the  same  office:  so 
we,  who  are  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and  severally 
members  one  of  another. — Rom.  12:3-5. 

Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil  the  law  of 
Christ.  For  if  a  man  thinketh  himself  to  be  something 
when  he  is  nothing,  he  deceiveth  himself. — Gal.  6:2,  3. 

This  is  a  characteristic  note  in  Paul's  epistles.  In  both  these 
passages  the  apostle  is  speaking  about  service,  and  in  each 
he  is  anxious  lest  intended  helpfulness  should  be  spoiled  by 
self-conceit.  Many  folk  are  earnestly  desirous  to  be  of  use, 
but  they  are  so  self-confident  about  their  own  aims  and  meth- 
ods, so  intolerantly  cocksure  about  social  remedies,  that  they 
do  their  cause  more  harm  than  good.  They  lack  the  grace  to 
see  that  at  least  occasionally  they  may  be  mistaken.  One  of 
the  most  familiar  forms  of  such  self-conceit  among  us  is 
found  in  the  man  or  woman,  who  having  lighted  upon  some 
notion,  likely  to  be  of  use  to  the  world,  at  once  erects  it  into 
the  one  panacea  for  which  all  the  ages  have  been  waiting. 
He  becomes  a  crank.  All  other  ideas  save  his  seem  negligible ; 
all  folk  who  do  not  appreciate  his  notion  or  assist  him  in  it 
he  marks  down  for  fools;  he  rides  the  hobby  of  his  special 
cure-all  tirelessly.  The  pathos  of  the  situation  often  lies  in 
the  man's  self-renouncing  devotion.  But  the  devotion  is  so 
heavily  cumbered  with  conceit,  intolerance,  dogmatism,  and 

in 


[VII-5]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

extravagant  claims  of  unique  importance,  that  a  spectator  finds 
it  easier  to  stomach  the  original  sin  of  selfishness  than  such 
a  highly  developed- perversion  of  self-sacrifice. 

O  God,  who  hast  promised  to  hear  the  prayers  of  Thy 
people,  give  me,  I  beseech  Thee,  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and 
understanding,  of  counsel  and  knowledge:  keep  me  from  folly 
and  rashness:  when  I  am  right  do  Thou  confirm  me,  when  I 
am  wrong  do  Thou  correct  me,  and  so  give  me,  O  Thou  wis- 
dom of  God,  a  right  judgment  in  all  things,  that  I  be  not  bar- 
ren nor  unfruitful  in  the  knowledge  of  Thee  and  in  the  serv- 
ice of  my  fellowmen.  Amen. — "A  Book  of  Prayers  for 
Students." 

Seventh  Week,   Fifth  Day 

Now  when  Jesus  saw  great  multitudes  about  him,  he 
gave  commandment  to  depart  unto  the  other  side.  And 
there  came  a  scribe,  and  said  unto  him,  Teacher,  I  will  fol- 
low thee  whithersoever  thou  goest.  And  Jesus  saith  unto 
him,  The  .foxes  have  holes,  and  the  birds  of  the  heaven 
have  nests;  but  the  Son  of  man  hath  not  where  to  lay  his 
head. — Matt.  8 :  18-20. 

In  spite  of  the  brevity  of  the  record  the  scene  is  not  diffi- 
cult to  imagine.  The  popularity  of  the  Master  is  at  its  height, 
the  multitudes  throng  about  him,  association  with  him  is  fash- 
ionable, and  a  sentimental  scribe  is  swept  off  his  feet  and  pro- 
poses to  join  his  company.  But  Jesus  pricks  the  bubble  of  his 
effervescent  feeling.  He  pictures  the  reality  of  hardship  and 
self-denial.  Today  service  has  gained  remarkable  vogue.  It 
is  good  form  to  be  engaged  in  philanthropic  work.  People 
take  up  organized  charity  or  settlement  work  or  "slumming" 
as  they  do  golf  or  bridge.  A  few  such  interests  are  to  be 
expected  in  a  well-furnished  life.  Philanthropy  has  become 
a  fad.  Many  sentimental  folk  are  emotionally  ready,  like  the 
scribe,  to  follow  Jesus  in  service.  But  they  do  not  go  far. 
They  are  caricatures  of  his  real  disciples,  and  often  they  bring 
into  contempt  the  causes  with  which  they  dally.  When  folk 
are  cruelly  in  need  they  are  not  thankful  for  the  service  of 
those  who  make  a  fashionable  game  of  helping  them.  One 
cannot  easily  imagine  any  character  more  likely  to  receive  the 
scathing  rebuke  of  the  Master  than  the  one  who  tried  to  make 
a  fad  of  service  to  "the  least  of  these,"  his  brethren. 

112 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-6] 

Give  us,  O  Lord,  a  mind  after  Thine  own  heart,  that  we  may 
delight  to  do  Thy  will,  O  our  God;  and  let  Thy  Law  be  writ- 
ten on  our  hearts.  Give  us  courage  and  resolution  to  do  our, 
duty,  and  a  heart  to  be  spent  in  Thy  service,  and  in  doing  alll 
the  good  that  possibly  we  can  the  few  remaining  days  of  our 
pilgrimage  here  on  earth.  Grant  this,  we  humbly  beseech 
Thcc,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  Christ  Thy  Son  our  Lord.  Amen. 
— John  Tillotson  (1630-1694). 

Seventh  Week,  Sixth  Day 

And  as  these  went  their  way,  Jesus  began  to  say  unto 
the  multitudes  concerning  John,  What  went  ye  out  into 
the  wilderness  to  behold?  a  reed  shaken  with  the  wind? 
But  what  went  ye  out  to  see?  a  man  clothed  in  soft  rai- 
ment? Behold,  they  that  wear  soft  raiment  are  in  kings' 
houses.  But  wherefore  went  ye  out?  to  see  a  prophet? 
Yea,  I  say  unto  you,  and  much  more  than  a  prophet.  This 
is  he,  of  whom  it  is  written, 

Behold,  I  send  my  messenger  before  thy  face, 
Who  shall  prepare  thy  way  before  thee. 
Verily   I   say  unto  you,   Among  them  that   are  born   of 
women   there   hath  not   arisen   a   greater   than   John   the 
Baptist:  yet  he  that  is  but  little  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
is  greater  than  he. — Matt.  11:7-11. 

Of  all  the  perversions  of  service  none  makes  it  more  dis- 
tasteful than  sentimental  softness.  Some,  endeavoring  to  live 
by  love  and  to  express  love  in  usefulness,  succeed  only  in 
achieving  an  oily,  obsequious  imitation  of  the  splendidly 
rugged  and  vigorous  ministry  of  Jesus.  For  Jesus  approved 
folk  like  John  the  Baptist,  where  the  stern,  masculine  quali- 
ties were  prominent.  He  himself  could  serve  by  fearless 
words,  audacious  deeds,  fierce  denunciation,  and  unbending 
endurance  as  well  as  by  tenderness.  Scientists  tell  us  that  if 
there  be  health  in  the  body  when  disease  enters,  the  red  cor- 
puscles go  out  into  the  blood  like  warriors  to  attack  the  evil. 
A  healthy  body  has  capacity  to  resent  the  intrusion  of  de- 
structive things ;  it  has  capacious  power  to  repel  invaders  and 
to  cast  them  out;  and  if  any  body  lacks  that  protective  force 
it  dies.  What  is  true  of  the  body  is  true  of  the  person.  The 
power  of  repulsion  against  evil,  of  swift  and  eager  indignation 
against  cruelty  and  hypocrisy,  is  indispensable  to  any  soul.. 
General  Booth  said,  "Go  on  hating,  night  and  day,  in  every 

"3 


[VII-7]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

place,  under  all  circumstances.  Bring  this  side  of  your  nature 
well  into  ptey."  Nor  is  it  easy  to  see  how  one  can  be  in  any 
worthy  sense  a  disciple  of  Jesus,  if  he  has  not  harnessed  his 
combative  faculties  to  the  service  of  human  weal.  Of  all 
misadventures  in  the  imitation  of  Jesus,  none  can  be  farther 
from  the  mark  than  a  pallid,  pulseless,  sentimental  man. 

Grant,  O  Lord,  as  Thou  hast  cast  -my  lot  in  a  fair  ground, 
that  I  may  show  forth  contentment  by  rejoicing  in  the  privi- 
leges with  which  Thou  hast  strewn  my  path,  and  by  using  to 
the  full  my  opportunities  for  service. 

In  hours  of  hardship,  preserve  me  from  self-pity  and  endow 
me  with  the  warrior's  mind,  that  even  in  the  heat  of  battle 
I  may  be  inspired  with  the  sense  of  vocation  and  win  the 
peace  of  the  victor;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 
— Bishop  Charles  H.  Brent. 

i 

Seventh  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Then  came  to  him  the  mother  of  the  sons  of  Zebedee 
with  her  sons,  worshipping  him,  and  asking  a  certain 
thing  of  him.  And  he  said  unto  her,  What  wouldest  thou? 
She  saith  unto  him,  Command  that  these  my  two  sons 
may  sit,  one  on  thy  right  hand,  and  one  on  thy  left  hand, 
in  thy  kingdom.  But  Jesus  answered  and  said,  Ye  know 
not  what  ye  ask.  Are  ye  able  to  drink  the  cup  that  I  am 
about  to  drink?  They  say  unto  him,  We  are  able.  He 
saith  unto  them,  My  cup  indeed  ye  shall  drink:  but  to  sit 
on  my  right  hand,  and  on  my  left  hand,  is  not  mine  to 
give;  but  it  is  for  them  for  whom  it  hath  been  prepared  of 
my  Father.  And  when  the  ten  heard  it,  they  were  moved 
with  indignation  concerning  the  two  brethren.  But  Jesus 
called  them  unto  him,  and  said,  Ye  know  that  the  rulers 
of  the  Gentiles  lord  it  over  them,  and  their  great  ones 
exercise  authority  over  them.  Not  so  shall  it  be  among 
you:  but  whosoever  would  become  great  among  you  shall 
be  your  minister;  and  whosoever  would  be  first  among 
you  shall  be, your  servant:  even  as  the  Son  of  man  came 
not  to  be  ministered  unto,  but  to  minister,  and  to  give  his 
life  a  ransom  for  many. — Matt.  20:  20-28. 

To  seek  notoriety  and  prominence  even  in  the  circle  of 
Jesus'  disciples,  is  a  common  perversion  of  service.  We  give 
ourselves  to  a  sacrificial  life,  as  James  and  John  did,  but  we 
twist  the  meaning  of  our  very  sacrifice  until  we  are  thinking 
of  the  gains  in  fame  and  popularity  and  power  which  may 

114 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

accrue  to  us.  How  few  St.  Francis  Xaviers  there  are,  of 
whom  it  can  be  said  that  he  "would  like  to  reform  the  world 
without  his  own  existence  being  known."  Old  John  Donne 
put  such  self-effacement  at  the  summit  of  spiritual  achieve- 
ment: 

"I  have  done  one  braver  thing 
Than  all  the  worthies  did ; 
And  yet  a   braver   thence   doth   spring, 
Which  is,  to  keep  that  hid." 

Such  are  a  few  of  the  familiar  perversions  of  service:  we 
become  meddlesome,  we  condescend,  we  make  officious  care 
for  others  a  substitute  for  the  cleansing  of  ourselves,  we 
become  fanatics,  faddists,  sentimentalists,  or  seekers  after 
notoriety.  When  we  cannot  be  driven  from  the  desire  to  be 
useful,  we  may  yet  be  drawn  into  some  caricature  of  use- 
fulness. 

/  have  been  careless,  cowardly,  mutinous.  Punishment  I 
have  deserved,  I  deny  it  not;  yet  have  mercy  on  me  for  the 
sake  of  the  truth  I  long  to  learn,  and  of  the  good  which  I  long 
to  do.  Take  the  will  for  the  deed,  good  Lord.  Accept  the 
partial  self-sacrifice  zvhich  Thou  didst  inspire,  for  the  sake  of 
the  one  perfect  self-sacrifice  which  Thou  didst  fulfil  upon  the 
Cross.  Pardon  my  faults,  out  of  Thine  own  boundless  pity 
for  human  weakness.  Strike  not  my  unworthy  name  off  the 
roll  call  of  the  noble  and  victorious  army,  which  is  the  blessed 
company  of  all  faithful  people;  and  let  me,  too,  be  found 
written  in  the  Book  of  Life,  even  though  I  stand  the  lowest 
and  last  upon  its  list. — Charles  Kingsley. 

COMMENT    FOR   THE   WEEK 
I 

Hitherto  we  have  been  thinking  of  a  generously  useful  life 
against  the  background  of  thoroughgoing  selfishness,  ungra- 
cious and  unjust.  While  it  is  true,  however,  that  the  blatant 
enemy  of  serviceableness  is  selfishness,  it  is  also  true  that  not 
often  do  men  deliberately  set  themselves  to  live  self-centered 
lives.  Selfishness,  like  any  other  sin,  is  not  often  seen  dressed 
in  full  uniform  and  advertising  candidly  her  true  designs. 
Her  ways  are  subtle;  she  disguises  herself  in  winsome  forms; 
her  ample  box  of  tricks  supplies  many  such  subterfuges  as 


[VII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

making  proposed  service  unlovely  by  tactlessness  or  twisting 
an  unselfish  intention  into  a  useless  result. 

Some  characters,  to  be  sure,  have  been  and  doubtless  are 
avowedly  and  colossally  selfish.  To  their  ambition  for  ag- 
grandizement they  have  deliberately  handed  the  reins  of  their 
lives.  They  have  concluded  like  Napoleon,  "I  am  not  an  ordi- 
nary man,  I  am  an  extraordinary  man,  and  ordinary  rules  do 
not  apply  to  me,"  and  in  their  unabashed  self-seeking  they 
have  ridden  roughshod  across  all  considerations  of  justice  and 
mercy.  But  probably  such  folk  are  few.  Even  Napoleon, 
doubtless  deceiving  himself  as  well  as  others,  clothed  his  insa- 
tiable personal  ambition  in  the  plausible  desire  to  spread  the 
ideals  of  French  liberty.  One  must  turn  to  the  imagined  char- 
acters of  literature  to  be  sure  that  he  has  found  utter  selfish- 
ness, deliberate  and  unashamed.  There,  like  Milton's  Satan, 
some  do  indeed  say,  "Better  to  reign  in  hell  than  serve  in 
heaven." 

The  uselessness  of  most  of  us,  however,  springs  from  meaner 
causes  than  such  deliberate  self-inflation.  On  the  slope  of 
Long's  Peak  in  Colorado  lies  the  ruin  of  a  forest  giant.  The 
naturalist  tells  us  that  the  tree  had  stood  for  four  hundred 
years ;  that  it  was  a  seedling  when  Columbus  landed  on  San 
Salvador ;  that  it  had  been  struck  by  lightning  fourteen  times ; 
that  the  avalanches  and  storms  of  four  centuries  had  thun- 
dered past  it.  In  the  end,  however,  beetles  killed  the  tree. 
A  giant  that  age  had  not  withered  nor  lightnings  blasted  nor 
storms  subdued  fell  at  last  before  insects  that  a  man  could 
crush  between  his  forefinger  and  his  thumb.  So  human  char- 
acters collapse  into  futile  uselessness  not  only  through  "pre- 
sumptuous sins"  but  more  frequently  through  "secret  faults." 
And  nowhere  is  this  subtle  cause  of  ruined  character  more 
obvious  than  in  the  destructive  work  of  the  small  enemies 
of  usefulness. 

II 

The  best  intentions  to  live  a  serviceable  life  may  evaporate 
|  for  no  other  reason  than  the  habitual  substitution  of  well- 
wishing  for  well-doing.  Superficially  to  wish  people  well  is  a 
habit  easily  acquired.  In  church  under  the  spell  of  worship, 
or  alone  stirred  by  meditation  or  by  a  book,  a  man  can  warmly 
wish  well  to  all  humanity.  So  in  an  old  jingle  a  captain 
brought  to  his  crew  the  map  of  a  shoreless  sea: 

116 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

"He  brought  them  a  map  representing  the  sea, 
Without  the  least  vestige  of  land ; 
And  the  crew  were  all  glad  when  they  found  it  to  be 
A  map  they  could  all  understand. 

'What's  the  use  of  Mercators,  North  Pole  and  equators, 
Tropics,  zones,  and  meridian  lines?' 
So  the  captain  would  cry,  and  the  men  would  reply, 
'They  are  only  conventional  signs.' " 

On  such  a  zoneless,  shoreless  sea  of  well-wishing  how  many 
folk  congenially  are  sailing !  Their  lives  are  not  storm-tossed 
with  hate  nor  wrecked  by  tempests  of  selfish  ambition.  Rather 
the  breeze  of  a  mild  good  will  fills  their  sails,  their  skies  are 
benignantly  blue,  and  underneath  is  the  gentle  heave  of  kindly 
feeling.  But  they  never  land.  The  sea  of  their  well-wishing 
has  no  shore.  They  arrive  nowhere.  They  mean  well  but  they 
mean  well  feebly.  To  no  concrete  deed  of  service,  to  no 
practical  assumption  of  responsibility,  to  no  costly  and  effi- 
cient expenditure  of  time,  thought,  energy,  and  money  in  use- 
ful work,  do  they  ever  come. 

The  peculiar  peril  of  such  well-wishing  lies  in  the  com- 
placent opinion  of  oneself  which  it  induces.  Good  intentions 
and  kindly  emotions  are  the  most  efficient  opiates  for  an 
uneasy  conscience.  We  hear  an  address  on  the  need  of 
China  or  the  sufferings  of  the  Armenians  and  we  are  deeply 
stirred.  We  wish  well  to  all  the  yellow  race,  to  all  oppressed 
and  stricken  people  everywhere,  to  Australian  bushmen,  the 
hill  tribes  of  the  Himalayas,  the  barbarians  of  Timbuctoo,  to 
Asia,  Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea!  In  our  swelling 
and  inclusive  sympathy — and  that,  too,  without  the  need  of 
stirring  from  the  pew — we  may  gather  up  all  the  sick,  af- 
flicted, and  despised  on  earth,  feeling  in  secret  that  so  com- 
passionate a  spirit  must  argue  an  admirable  life.  When  a 
rapacious  man  revels  in  cruelty,  or  a  truculent  man  seeks 
vengeance,  or  a  miser  worships  mammon,  one  easily  can  see 
that  they  are  wrong.  But  kindly  wishing,  such  as  rises  in  a 
man  of  humane  and  generous  emotions,  quiets  the  accusing 
conscience  and,  like  a  vampire,  lulls  the  victim  while  it  sucks 
his  blood.  For  well-wishers,  while  often  in  appearance  the 
most  sensitive,  kindly,  sympathetic,  responsive  folk  one  meets, 
still  deserve  the  scathing  rebuke  of  James,  the  Lord's  brother : 
"If  a  brother  or  sister  be  naked  and  in  lack  of  daily  food, 
and  one  of  you  say  unto  them,  Go  in  peace,  be  ye  warmed  and 

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[VII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

filled ;   and  yet  ye  give  them  not  the  things  needful  to  the 
body;  what  doth  it  profit?"  (James  2:15,  16). 

There  comes  a  time  in  certain  experiments  in  chemistry 
when  the  fluid  in  solution  awaits  the  decisive  jar  of  the  oper- 
ator's finger  to  make  it  crystallize.  So  does  many  a  well- 
intentioned  spirit  await  the  resolute  act  of  will  which  will 
precipitate  his  kindly  feelings  into  practical  deeds.  A  large 
part  of  true  religion  is  fulfilled  when  a  man  takes  himself 
deliberately  in  hand  and  walks  himself  up  to  tasks  undone, 
concerning  which  he  long  has  been  wishing  well.  Sign  that 
check ;  write  that  letter ;  pay  that  call ;  seek  that  interview ; 
bear  that  testimony ;  accept  that  office ;  assume  that  respon- 
sibility— such  crisp  imperatives  are  indispensable,  if  well- 
wishing  is  not  to  prove  the  ruin  of  a  serviceable  life. 

Ill 

Another  enemy  of  usefulness  whose  alluring  disguise  makes 
the  peril  greater  is  the  substitution  of  pleasing  people  for 
serving  them.  One  who  sets  himself  to  the  task  can  soon 
become  an  adept  at  making  himself  agreeable.  Consider  these 
smooth  and  plausible  folk  who  like  human  chameleons  crawl 
across  life,  taking  a  new  color  from  every  person  whom  they 
meet!  What  infinite  adaptability!  Vain  people  enjoy  flat- 
tery; they  purr  like  kittens  when  their  favorite  vanities  are 
stroked ;  and  the  specialist  in  pleasing  folk  knows  how  to 
touch  each  vain  man's  favorite  nerve,  until  it  tingles  with 
delight.  Weak  people  want  pity ;  they  are  in  a  minor  mood 
and  they  wish  all  who  meet  them  to  wail,  like  dogs  at  a  sad 
tune  upon  a  violin ;  and  the  adept  in  agreeableness  can  wail 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  most  self-pitying.  Proud  folk  wish 
deference ;  when  it  shines  upon  them,  they  preen  their  feathers 
like  peacocks  in  the  sunlight ;  and  your  specialist  in  con- 
geniality is  positively  radiant  with  deference  when  proud 
folk  are  near.  Optimists  enjoy  the  company  of  hopeful  spirits 
who  agree  that  the  world  is  at  the  dawning  of  a  great  new 
day;  and  the  adept  in  giving  pleasure  can  affirm  that  hope 
with  an  enthusiastic  assurance  that  puts  new  color  into  the 
roseate  visions  of  the  most  optimistic.  Pessimists  love  to  see 
heads  shaken  over  the  world's  lamentable  state,  and  to  hear 
sad  affirmations  that  things  will  be  much  worse  before  they 
are  better;  and  the  specialist  in  adaptability  can  do  both  with 

118 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

an  abandoned  lugubriousness  which  makes  the  most  pessimis- 
tic sure  that  conditions  are  even  worse  than  he  had  hitherto 
supposed. 

So  Hamlet  and  Polonius  in  the  drama  talked  together. 
Says  Hamlet,.  "Dot  you  see  yonder  cloud  that's  almost  in 
shape  of  a  camel?"  "By  the  mass,"  says  Polonius,  "and  'tis  like 
a  camel,  indeed."  "Methinks,"  says  Hamlet,  "it  is  like  a 
weasel."  "It  is  backed  like  a  weasel,"  agrees  Polonius.  "Or 
like  a  whale?"  says  Hamlet.  And  Polonius  consents,  "Very 
like  a  whale."  After  a  day  so  spent  in  being  agreeable,  the 
congenial  man  comes  home  well  satisfied.  Has  he  not  pleased 
people?  Has  he  not  made  the  world  happier?  Is  he  not  a 
useful  character? 

It  should  be  obvious  that  so  far  from  being  thus  identical, 
pleasing  folk  and  serving  them  are  often  opposite.  Ex-Pres- 
ident Eliot  of  Harvard  University  once  was  asked  to  name  the 
fundamental  quality  essential  to  a  successful  college  president. 
After  thinking  a  moment  he  replied,  "The  capacity  to  inflict 
pain."  No  serious  mind  can  miss  his  meaning.  Without  that 
stern  capacity  no  great  leadership,  friendship,  or  parenthood 
is  imaginable.  For  lack  of  it  lives  that  might  have  been  useful 
now  are  fallen  into  soft  futility.  Parents  to  please  their  chil- 
dren relax  all  discipline  and  allow  perilous  indulgences ; 
preachers  to  please  their  congregations  prophesy  smooth 
things ;  legislators  to  please  their  constituencies  deny  their 
own  most  assured  convictions ;  husbands  and  wives  to  please 
each  other  give  up  their  own  most  cherished  principles.  How 
frequently  agreeableness  is  the  enemy  of  usefulness!  A  serv- 
iceable man  is  congenial  when  he  can  be,  but  for  the  sake  of 
leaving  folk  temporarily  pleased  he  will  not  leave  them  per- 
manently worse.  Service  sometimes  shines  as  pleasantly  as 
the  sun  in  June,  and  sometimes  it  bursts  like  a  thunder  storm 
and  clears  the  air.  Now  it  is  as  delicate  and  refreshing  as 
dew ;  and  again  it  is  as  brisk  and  hearty  as  a  winter  day. 
For  service  and  softness  are  two  different  things,  and  deeply 
to  help  folk  sometimes  involves  displeasing  them. 


IV 

Another  familiar  enemy  of  usefulness  is  discouragement 
over  the  humdrum  and  monotony  of  commonplace  living  to 
which  the  large  and  glowing  ideals  of  service  seem  so  little 

119 


[VII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

applicable.  The  principles  of  the  self-sacrificial  life,  finding 
its  fullness  in  its  outpouring,  are  alluring  when  set  in  fitting 
words,  and  those  self-denying  lives,  the  remembrance  of 
which  is  the  glory  of  history,  are  stimulating  when  we  read  of 
them.  But  when  from  the  contemplation  of  the  great  ideals 
of  service  and  their  supreme  embodiments  We  turn  to  the 
narrow  horizons,  the  petty  tasks,  the  tiresome  drudgery,  the 
limited  opportunities  of  our  ordinary  days,  the  vision  often 
fades  and  the  examples  seem  inapplicable. 

The  fact  is  that,  save  in  a  small  proportion  of  cases,  service 
does  not  involve  any  dramatic  surrender  of  life  at  all,  but 
rather  the  faithful,  painstaking  use  of  life  in  ordinary  tasks. 
One  wonders  which  of  the  two  is  harder.  It  is  said  that 
thirtyrseven  flashes  of  lightning  would  be  needed  to  keep  one 
common  incandescent  lamp  burning  for  a  single  hour.  So 
the  assumption  of  commonplace  responsibilities,  carried  with 
constancy  and  fortitude  through  many  years,  may  be  far  harder 
than  one  supreme  adventurous  deed  of  self-sacrifice  that  puts 
a  name  forever  into  manhood's  memory.  Thousands  of  sol- 
diers in  France  would  gladly  have  gone  to  the  first  line 
trenches  that  they  might  thereby  escape  the  monotony  of 
service  in  the  camps. 

One  wonders  also  which  of  the  two,  the  flaming  deed  of 
self-sacrifice  or  the  obscure  humdrum  practice  of  it,  is  in  the 
end  more  useful.  There  are  two  ways  of  saving  folk  at  sea. 
Grace  Darling's  way  is  startling,  unforgetable.  All  honor 
to  her  for  that  one  wild  night  when  with  her  father  she 
risked  her  life  to  save  the  shipwrecked  mariners  on  Long- 
stone  Ledge !  There  is,  however,  the  blacksmith's  way  of 
saving  mariners.  A  few  old-fashioned  smithies  still  are  left 
where  one  may  see  the  links  of  an  anchor  chain  forged  by 
hand  with  conscientious  thoroughness.  In  the  worker's  imag- 
ination, for  all  the  commonplaceness  of  his  task,  there  well 
may  be  the  picture  of  a  mad  night  upon  the  ocean,  when  only 
that  chain  will  stand  between  rocks  and  foundering  ship.  He 
will  not  be  there  to  achieve  a  rescue  that  will  make  his  name 
rememberable  in  the  annals  of  the  sea.  But  for  all  that,  by 
conscientious  work  in  the  smoke  of  the  smithy,  he  can  save 
that  ship.  He  who  loses  the  ideal  of  a  serviceable  life  be- 
cause he  cannot  serve  in  Grace  Darling's  way  lacks  vision. 
Only  a  few  are  called  to  that.  It  is  more  fundamental  to 
forge  strong  anchor  chains  than  to  rescue  the  victims  of 

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SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

broken  ones ;  it  is  more  basic  to  build  fireproof  buildings  than 
to  save  the  occupants  when  buildings  burn ;  the  most  important 
business  in  the  world  is  the  undergirding  of  home,  and  neigh- 
borhood, and  nation  with 

"Plain  devotedness  to  duty 

Steadfast  and  still,  nor  paid  with  mortal  praise, 
But  finding  amplest  recompense 
For  life's  ungarlanded  expense 
In  work  done  squarely  and  unwasted  days." 

An  American  soldier  in  France  won  the  Croix  de  Guerre 
but  refused  to  wear  it,  and  this  is  his  explanation :  "I  was  no 
good  back  home.  I  let  my  sister  and  my  widowed  mother 
support  me.  I  was  a  dead  beat.  And  now  they  have  given 
me  the  Croix  de  Guerre  for  something  I  did  at  the  front.  I 
am  not  going  to  put  it  on.  I  am  going  back  home  first.  I  am 
going  to  win  out  there.  I  am  going  to  show  my  mother  that 
I  can  make  good  at  home.  Then  I  will  put  on  the  Croix  de 
Guerre."  He  is  not  the  only  one  who  has  discovered  that 
being  heroic  in  a  crisis  is  sometimes  easier  than  being  useful 
at  home. 


Kindred  with  what  we  just  have  said  is  this  further  fact: 
many  people  lose  the  ideal  of  usefulness  because  they  are 
discouraged  not  about  the  commonplaceness  of  their  tasks, 
but  about  their  own  meanly  endowed  or  severely  handicapped 
lives.  Exhortation  to  usefulness  so  far  from  inspiring  them, 
sickens  them.  They  would  count  it  their  crown  and  joy  to 
be  useful,  but  what  can  they  do? 

By  how  many  roads  does  Selfishness  contrive  to  offer  an 
escape  from  service !  Some  folk  are  not  humbly  dismayed 
about  themselves.  They  are  too  conceited  to  be  of  use.  They 
will  not  work  on  committees  except  as  chairmen,  nor  in 
societies  except  as  presidents.  They  are  always  seeking 
vainly  for  opportunities  ample  enough  to  be  worthy  of  the 
exercise  of  their  exalted  powers.  They  are  habitually  ag- 
grieved because,  being  eagles,  folk  expect  them  to  hatch  eggs 
on  humming-birds'  nests.  Their  professed  desire  to  be  of 
use  is  extraordinary,  but  the  conditions  which  they  insist 
on  as  indispensable  are  dictated  by  pride.  They  have  not 
learned  that  effective  service  is  the  child  of  humility;  they 

121 


[VII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

do  not  see  that  the  real  way  to  get  things  done  is  not  to  care 
who  gets  the  credit  for  doing  them. 

When,  however,  Selfishness  cannot  so  contrive  to  make 
pride  a  stumbling-block  to  usefulness,  but  finds  instead  a 
deeply  humble  soul,  he  is  too  experienced  and  wily  a  foe  to 
be  discouraged.  Humility,  if  it  be  skillfully  handled,  will  do 
quite  as  well  as  self-conceit  to  make  life  useless.  Let  a 
humble  man's  self-depreciation  become  exaggerated ;  let  him 
meditate  morbidly  upon  his  poorly  endowed  life,  his  meager- 
ness  of  mind,  his  crippled  health,  his  slender  store  of  strength, 
his  little  reputation ;  let  him  handle  his  one  talent  in  disheart- 
ened comparison  with  the  larger  gifts  of  other  men!  He  will 
soon  be  ready  to  lay  what  power  he  has  away  in  a  napkin ; 
he  will  soon  be  as  useless  through  false  humility  as  Selfish- 
ness ever  could  have  made  him  through  false  pride.  It  is  a 
clever  foe  who  knows  how  to  persuade  his  victim  to  fall  on 
his  own  sword.  But  so  Selfishness  uses  a  man's  humility  to 
his  own  undoing. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  one  thing  in  human  life  of  which 
ill-fortune  and  crippling  handicap  never  can  deprive  an 
earnest  man  is  the  privilege  of  being  useful.  One  door  which 
no  man  and  no  circumstance  can  shut  is  the  opportunity  to 
serve.  Paul  at  liberty  can  give  himself  to  splendid  tasks. 
Paul  in  prison  is  deprived  of  many  privileges  which  he  had 
loved ;  but  Paul  in  prison  is  not  deprived  of  the  privilege  of 
being  useful.  Even  the  men  to  whom  he  is  chained  present 
a  chance  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  an  audience  which  cannot 
escape,  and  enforced  leisure  he  can  use  for  the  writing  of 
letters  which  thrill  and  burn  in  the  Christian  churches  yet. 
When  a  man  is  earnestly  set  on  being  useful,  he  is  in  a 
country  where  he  can  dig  anywhere  and  strike  water. 

Indeed,  the  indispensableness  of  all  sorts  of  people,  from 
the  genius  to  the  most  meanly  endowed,  was  clearly  illus- 
trated during  the  Great  War.  Everybody  counted.  In  the 
saving  of  food,  in  the  raising  of  crops,  in  the  disposal  of 
bonds,  the  fidelity  of  all  the  population  was  needed,  and  the 
children  were  mobilized  in  the  schools  for  work  as  were  the 
armies  in  the  field.  There  was  no  one  too  small  in  ability 
to  share  in  the  campaign.  Great  handles  to  the  burden  there 
were  which  needed  great  hands  to  lift  them,  but  all  around 
the  task  were  little  handles  also  on  which  the  smallest  fingers 
could  obtain  a  hold.  Even  the  blind,  whose  hearing  by 

122 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

nature's  compensation  is  keener  than  ordinary  men's,  were 
set  to  the  task  of  listening  for  the  hostile  airplanes  on  the 
English  coast.  Each  person  found  some  gift,  however  small, 
which  could  be  contributed  to  the  general  fund. 

It  were  a  pity  to  forget  in  peace  a  truth  which  shone  so 
clearly  in  the  War.  Life  seldom  gives  to  any  man  so  barren 
a  day  that  chances  to  help  somebody  are  not  plentiful.  To  be 
cheerful  under  difficulties,  by  fortitude  and  patience  making 
even  sick  rooms  holy  lands ;  to  appreciate  some  fine  unadver- 
tised  endeavor  of  an  unnoticed  man ;  to  display  that  rare 
virtue,  magnanimity  to  an  unfriendly  person;  to  speak  a 
stout  word  for  a  good  cause ;  to  be  kind  to  the  humiliated  and 
gracious  to  the  hurt ;  to  touch  some  youth  with  new  confi- 
dence in  human  goodness  and  with  fresh  resolve  to  live  life 
for  noble  ends — such  opportunities  are  as  free  as  air  to 
breathe.  The  chance  to  serve  is  the  great  democrat.  He 
comes  to  all  doors.  He  lodges  in  all  houses.  To  any  who 
will  take  he  gives 

"That  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little,  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love." 

It  is  not  lack  of  opportunity  or  of  endowment  that  makes 
us  useless.  It  is  lack  of  insight,  thoughtfulness,  sympathy, 
imagination,  and  love. 

Moreover,  no  trouble  need  keep  any  man  from  the  joys  of 
service.  Some  forms  of  work  strong  folk  must  do,  but  for 
those  deeper  ministries  to  the  souls  of  men — the  inbreathing 
of  new  hope,  the  conquest  of  disillusionment  and  doubt,  the 
inspiration  of  fresh  faith  in  the  reality  of  the  spiritual  world 
— the  most  useless  man  is  one  who  has  had  no  trouble.  What 
can  he  do  for  us?  In  all  the  deeper  needs  of  life,  we  turn 
not  to  the  fortunate,  the  popular,  the  merry  and  unhurt,  but 
to  One  "despised  and  rejected  of  men,  a  man  of  sorrows  and 
acquainted  with  grief."  His  troubles  did  not  prevent  his 
usefulness ;  they  are  the  chief  instruments  of  his  service. 
His  incomparable  influence  on  human  hearts  would  have  been 
impossible,  if  men  had  not  known  that  he  was  "touched  with 
the  feeling  of  our  infirmities."  His  Cross  was  not  an  inter- 
ruption of  his  usefulness  but  the  climax  of  it.  For  when 
anyone  gives  himself  wholeheartedly  to  helping  men,  any 
experience  of  life,  glad  or  sorrowful,  transfiguration  or  cru- 

123 


[VII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

cifixion,  can  be  used  in  ministry.  When  life  digs  pickaxes 
into  us,  this  indeed  is  the  deepest  comfort — that  new  springs 
of  understanding,  sympathy,  and  service  may  be  opened  up. 

Ask  who  most  of  all  have  influenced  your  life  for  good, 
and  to  what  unlikely  places  does  the  trail  of  the  answer  lead ! 
Folk  whose  outward  eyes  have  been  long  blinded  but  whose 
inward  eyes  have  been  opened  wide  to  things  invisible ;  shut- 
ins  whose  patient,  unembittered  faith  re-creates  in  the  young 
and  strong  a  new  confidence  that  spirit  alone  is  real ;  men 
who  live  in  unbreakable  companionship  with  pain,  but  whose 
courage  is  not  broken  nor  their  spirits  crushed ;  martyrs  of 
the  home,  whose  failing  health  is  the  evidence  of  unfailing 
preference  of  other's  welfare  to  their  own ;  the  aged,  grown 
beautifully  old,  whose  increasing  frailty  of  flesh  the  better 
lets  the  light  of  the  eternal  through — such  people  are  not  shut 
out  from  service.  They  are  often  the  most  efficient  minis- 
ters to  some  of  man's  profoundest  needs.  Many  an  admired 
warrior  for  the  common  good  whose  resounding  blows  are 
everywhere  applauded  draws  his  secret  inspiration  from  some 
upper  room  where,  like  the  light  in  a  lighthouse,  a  life  is  shut 
in  but  still  is  luminous. 

To  all  folk  discouraged  about  crippled  lives,  this  then  is 
the  message :  The  world  is  in  trouble  and  none  can  help  more 
than  hearts  by  trouble  touched  to  understanding.  Where 
millions  are  in  adversity,  serviceable  men  taught  by  hardship 
are  deeply  needed.  So  when  John  Bright  sat  mourning  in 
his  widowed  home,  Cobden  came  to  comfort  him:  "Bright," 
he  said,  "there  are  thousands  of  homes  in  England  at  this 
moment,  where  wives,  mothers,  and  children  are  dying  of 
hunger.  When  the  first  paroxysm  of  your  grief  is  past,  I 
would  advise  you  to  come  with  me  and  we  will  never  rest 
until  the  Corn  Laws  are  repealed."  That  is  real  comfort, 
to  know  that  one's  trouble  can  be  capitalized  into  usefulness. 
As  "the  Lady  of  the  Decoration"  said,  "The  most  miserable, 
pitiful,  smashed-up  life  could  blossom  again  if  it  would  only 
blossom  for  others." 

The  substitution  of  well-wishing  for  well-doing,  of  pleas- 
ing people  for  serving  them,  disheartenment  over  small  oppor- 
tunities, self-conceit,  and  humility  overdone — such  beetles 
gnaw  at  the  pith  of  our  usefulness.  Our  prayers  against 
colossal  selfishness  are  often  wide  of  the  mark.  We  are  not 
deliberately  selfish.  We  are  driven  from  a  useful  life,  like 

124 


SMALL  ENEMIES  OF  USEFULNESS     [VII-c] 

travelers  from  the  woods,  not  by  lions  but  by  midgets.  We 
need  to  pray  not,  "O  God,  save  me  from  the  brutal  self-seeking 
of  Milton's  Satan!"  but  rather,  "Who  can  understand  his 
errors?  Cleanse  Thou  me  from  secret  faults!" 


125 


CHAPTER  VIII 

Cooperation 

DAILY    READINGS 

We  need  to  recognize,  before  we  go  further  in  our  thought 
of  service,  how  much  of  our  helpfulness  must  be  extended, 
not  individually  from  one  person  to  another,  but  through  the 
medium  of  cooperative  organizations.  Unless  one  sees  the 
necessity  of  this,  understands  its  principles,  and  practically 
accepts  it  in  his  program  of  usefulness,  he  will  inevitably  be 
robbed  of  a  large  part  of  his  possible  service. 

Eighth  Week,  First  Day 

And  they  were  bringing  unto  him  little  children,  that 
he  should  touch  them:  and  the  disciples  rebuked  them. 
But  when  Jesus  saw  it,  he  was  moved  with  indignation, 
and  said  unto  them,  Suffer  the  little  children  to  come  unto 
me;  forbid  them  not:  for  to  such  belongeth  the  kingdom 
of  God.  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Whosoever  shall  not  re- 
ceive the  kingdom  of  God  as  a  little  child,  he  shall  in  no 
wise  enter  therein.  And  he  took  them  in  his  arms,  and 
blessed  them,  laying  his  hands  upon  them. — Mark  10:  13-16. 

Service  for  children,  personally  rendered,  lies  within  reach 
of  most  of  us.  But  consider  in  any  community  what  numbers 
of  children  may  be  beyond  the  reach  of  casual  individual 
good  will.  Christian  people  have  no  right  to  avoid  such 
questions  as  these :  Do  we  need  a  day  nursery  or  a  home  for 
the  care  of  orphaned  and  destitute  children?  Are  our  boys 
and  girls  being  supplied  with  such  organized  help  as  the 
Christian  Associations  or  the  Boy  Scouts  or  the  Camp  Fire 
Girls  could  supply?  Does  the  community  face  the  problem 
of  children  in  industry,  and  is  the  problem  being  rightly  and 
thoroughly  handled?  Are  decent  opportunities  for  play  and 
recreation  being  provided  for  the  young?  Are  the  day 
schools  what  they  ought  to  be  ?  Are  the  Sunday  schools  eff ect- 

126 


COOPERATION  [VIII-2] 

ive?  The  time  has  gone  by  when  personal  service,  individ- 
ually rendered,  can  suffice  in  any  form.  "Nowadays  the  water 
main  is  my  well,  the  trolley  car  my  carriage,  the  banker's 
safe  my  old  stocking,  the  policeman's  billy  my  fist."  Service 
cannot  refuse  to  face  the  necessities  and  to  use  the  instruments 
which  the  nelv  age  has  brought. 

O  Heavenly  Father,  ivhose  unveiled  face  the  angels  of 
little  children  do  akvays  behold,  look  with  love  and  pity,  we 
beseech  thee,  upon  the  children  of  the  streets.  Where  men, 
in  their  busy  and  careless  lives,  have  made  a  highway,  these 
children  of  thine  have  made  a  home  and  a  school,  and  are 
learning  the  bad  lessons  of  our  selfishness  and  our  folly. 
Save  them,  and  save  us,  0  Lord.  Save  them  from  ignorance 
and  brutality,  from  the  shamelessness  of  lust,  the  hardness  of 
greed,  and  the  besotting  of  drink;  and  save  us  from  the 
greater  guilt  of  those  that  offend  thy  little  ones,  and  from 
the  hypocrisy  of  those  that  say  they  see  and  see  not,  whose 
sin  remaineth.  Amen. — Walter  Rauschenbusch. 

Eighth  Week,  Second  Day 

And  when  he  was  come  down  from  the  mountain,  great 
multitudes  followed  him.  And  behold,  there  came  to  him 
a  leper  and  worshipped  him,  saying,  Lord,  if  thou  wilt, 
thou  canst  make  me  clean.  And  he  stretched  forth  his 
hand,  and  touched  him,  saying,  I  will;  be  thou  made  clean. 
And  straightway  his  leprosy  was  cleansed.  An3  Jesus 
saith  unto  him,  See  thou  tell  no  man;  but  go,  show  thy- 
self to  the  priest,  and  offer  the  gift  that  Moses  com- 
manded, for  a  testimony  unto  them. — Matt.  8:1-4. 

All  of  us  at  times  have  the  privilege  of  ministering  directly 
to  the  comfort  and  recovery  of  the  sick.  But  no  Christian 
who  uses  his  imagination  can  be  content  with  those  oppor- 
tunities which  chance  throws  in  his  ivay.  The  sick  who  most 
need  care  are  often  outside  the  range  of  individual  ministry. 
Has  your  community  a  hospital  properly  equipped  to  minister 
to  the  whole  community?  Are  there  visiting  nurses  to  be 
summoned  in  case  of  need?  Is  there  a  health  department  in 
your  community  which  is  cleaning  up  unsanitary  districts, 
removing  the  cause  of  disease,  and  preventing  its  spread?  Is 
there  need  of  a  convalescent  home,  a  fresh  air  program,  a 
special  physician's  superintendence  of  school  children?  No 

127 


[VIII-3]         .THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

wordy  profession  of  Christian  care  about  the  sick  amounts  to 
much  in  a  modern  community,  save  as  such  questions  are 
answered.  What  multitudes  of  Christians  need  a  baptism  of 
public-mindedness ! 

Lord,  have  mercy  on  all  miserable  bodies;  those  that  are 
ready  to  famish  for  want,  feed  them;  those  that  are  bound  to 
beds  of  pain,  loose  them;  those  that  are  in  prison  and  bonds, 
release  them;  those  that  are  under  the  fury  of  persecution, 
and  cry  under  the  yoke  of  oppression,  relieve  them;  those 
that  lie  smarting  in  their  pains  and  wounds,  cure  them;  those 
that  are  distracted  in  their  thoughts  and  ^vits,  settle  them; 
those  that  are  in  perils  of  their  estates  and  lives,  preserve 
them.  Wherever  they  are,  and  ivhosoevcr  they  be,  what  help 
I  would  pray  for  myself  from  Thee,  or  comfort  from  men,  in 
their  condition,  I  beseech  Thee,  the  God  of  all  help  and  com- 
fort, to  give  it  to  them;  take  them  to  Thy  care  and  tend  them; 
supply  them,  and  succour  them;  have  compassion  on  them  and 
heal  them.  Amen. — Dr.  Brough. 

Eighth  Week,  Third  Day 

Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand, 
Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  pre- 
pared for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world:  for  I 
was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  to  eat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye 
gave  me  drink;  I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in; 
naked,  and  ye  clothed  me;  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me; 
I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came  unto  me.  Then  shall  the 
righteous  answer  him,  saying,  Lord,  when  saw  we  thee 
hungry,  and  fed  thee?  or  athirst,  and  gave  thee  drink? 
And  when  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in?  or 
naked,  and  clothed  thee?  And  when  saw  we  thee  sick, 
or  in  prison,  and  came  unto  thee?  And  the  King  shall 
answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say  unto  you,  Inas- 
much as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even 
these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me. — Matt.  25 :  34-40. 

It  is  the  commonplace  of  Christian  teaching  that  we  should 
care  for  the  poor,  afflicted,  destitute.  And  most  of  us,  touched 
by  special  instances  of  need,  are  ready  to  give  help.  But 
how  many  fail  either  to  see  need  or  to  feel  obligation  beyond 
those  particular  cases  that  come  under  their  individual  observ- 
ance! It  stands  to  reason,  however,  that  the  most  hopeless, 
abject  want  will  be  found  in  precisely  those  places  where  our 

128 


COOPERATION  [VIII-4] 

casual  observation  does  not  fall.  It  stands  to  reason,  also, 
that  the  most  self-respecting  poor,  to  whom  beggary  is  agony 
and  who  would  almost  rather  die  than  ask  alms,  are  the  very 
ones  whose  cries  for  help  will  never  reach  our  ears.  A 
modern  community,  therefore,  of  any  size,  which  has  not 
organized  its  philanthropy,  mapped  out  the  districts  where 
poverty  is  frequent,  studied  scientifically  its  problem  of  des- 
titution, examined  the  reasons  for  all  cases  of  habitual  want, 
and  provided  systematic  measures  for  relief  and  constructive 
help,  is  not  really  caring  for  the  poor  at  all.  No  words,  no 
kindly  feelings,  no  prayers,  no  individual  beneficence,  ever 
can  make  up  for  lack  of  cooperative  organization  in  relief 
of  want. 

O  Thou,  who  art  Love,  and  u'ho  seest  all  the  suffering, 
injustice,  and  misery  U'hich  reign  in  this  "world,  have  pity,  we 
implore  Thee,  on  the  zvork  of  Thy  hands.  Look  mercifully 
upon  the  poor,  the  oppressed,  and  all  zvho  are  heavy  laden 
li'ith  error,  labour,  and  sorrow.  Fill  our  hearts  with  deep 
compassion  for  those  who  suffer,  and  hasten  the  coming  of 
Thy  kingdom  of  justice  and  truth;  for  the  sake  of  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Eugene  Bersier. 

Eighth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

Now  all  the  publicans  and  sinners  were  drawing  near 
unto  him  to  hear  him.  And  both  the  Pharisees  and  the 
scribes  murmured,  saying,  This  man  receiveth  sinners, 
and  eateth  with  them. 

And  he  spake  unto  them  this  parable,  saying,  What  man 
of  you,  having  a  hundred  sheep,  and  having  lost  one  of 
them,  doth  not  leave  the  ninety  and  nine  in  the  wilder- 
ness, and  go  after  that  which  is  lost,  until  he  find  it? 
And  when  he  hath  found  it,  he  layeth  it  on  his  shoulders, 
rejoicing.  And  when  he  cometh  home,  he  calleth  together 
his  friends  and  his  neighbors,  saying  unto  them,  Rejoice 
with  me,  for  I  have  found  my  sheep  which  was  lost.  I 
say  unto  you,  that  even  so  there  shall  be  joy  in  heaven 
over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,  more  than  over  ninety 
and  nine  righteous  persons,  who  need  no  repentance. — 
Luke  15:  1-7. 

Xo  one  would  doubt  the  Christian's  duty  to  work  for  rec- 
lamation of  character.  Many  chances  for  personal  service  to 
tempted  and  beaten  men  come  to  any  Christian  who  is  looking 

129 


[VIII-s]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

for  them.  But  even  here  no  Christian  ought  to  content  him- 
self with  individual  service  alone.  Have  the  Christians  of 
your  community  ever  faced  together  the  moral  conditions  of 
your  town?  Do  you  know  whether  organized  vice  has  in- 
vaded your  city,  whether  the  police  are  in  cahoots  with  evil 
or  are  honestly  about  their  business,  whether  vile  plays  that 
could  be  stopped  are  being  given  and  vile  resorts  are  de- 
bauching the  town's  youth?  A  few  spoonfuls  of  reclaimed 
humanity  are  dipped  up  in  churches ;  but  often  the  full  stream 
of  moral  filth  pours  into  the  community,  unnoticed  by  any 
collective  Christian  attention,  unopposed  by  any  Christian 
public-mindedness.  There  is  hardly  a  neighborhood  in  Chris- 
tendom which  the  Christian  people  could  not  cleanse,  putting 
the  fear  of  God  into  corrupt  officials,  and  driving  out  bla- 
tantly vicious  influences,  if  they  earnestly  chose. 

O  Lord,  who  dost  not  willingly  afflict  the  sons  of  men,  be- 
hold from  Thy  holy  habitation  the  multitude  of  miserable 
souls  and  lives  among  us,  and  have  mercy  upon  them. 

Have  mercy  upon  all  ignorant  souls,  and  instruct  them; 
upon  all  deluded  minds,  and  enlighten  them;  on  all  seducing 
and  seduced  spirits,  and  convert  them. 

Have  mercy  upon  all  broken  hearts,  and  heal  them;  on  all 
struggling  with  temptation,  and  rescue  them;  on  all  languish- 
ing in  spiritual  desertion,  and  revive  them. 

Have  mercy  on  all  who  stagger  in  faith,  and  establish  tliein; 
that  are  fallen  from  Thee,  and  raise  them;  that  stand  with 
Thee,  and  confirm  them. 

Have  mercy  on  all  who  groan  under  their  sins,  and  ease 
them;  that  go  on  in  their  wickedness,  and  curb  them. 

O  Blessed  Jesus,  who  didst  shed  Thy  Blood  for  our  souls 
to  save  them;  shed  Thy  Holy  Spirit  upon  all  and  heal  them, 
for  Thy  mercy's  sake.  Amen. — Dr.  Brough. 

Eighth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

We  have  been  saying  that  Christians  ought  to  take  col- 
lective responsibility  for  such  communal  affairs  as  the  care  of 
children  and  of  the  sick,  the  relief  of  the  poor  and  the  clean- 
ing up  of  moral  conditions.  This  collective  responsibility, 
however,  ought  to  be  extended  far  beyond  the  individual 
community.  Our  worst  sins  are  no  longer  merely  individual 
or  communal ;  they  are  organized  on  a  national  scale.  We 

130 


COOPERATION  [VIII-6] 

have  now  "the  man  who  picks  pockets  with  a  railway  rebate, 
murders  with  an  adulterant  instead  of  a  bludgeon,  burglarizes 
with  a  'rake-off'  instead  of  a  jimmy,  cheats  with  a  company 
prospectus  instead  of  a  deck  of  cards,  or  scuttles  his  town 
instead  of  his  ship."  Nothing  can  handle  such  forms  of 
iniquity  except  public-mindedness.  If  a  man  hates  sin,  but 
hates  it  only  in  its  individual  forms,  how  far  short  has  he 
fallen  from  his  full  share  of  service !  To  be  a  public-minded 
citizen,  to  make  citizenship  an  agency  of  Christian  useful- 
ness, to  understand  public  needs,  public  sins,  public  remedies 
— such  cooperative  ministry  is  indispensable  to  a  full-sized 
Christian  life.  What  would  the  world  become  if  all  Christians 
felt  for  their  countries  what  the  prophet  felt  for  Zion? 

For  Zion's  sake  will  I  not  hold  my  peace,  and  for  Jeru- 
salem's sake  I  will  not  rest,  until  her  righteousness  go 
forth  as  brightness,  and  her  salvation  as  a  lamp  that  burn- 
eth.  And  the  nations  shall  see  thy  righteousness,  and 
all  kings  thy  glory;  and  thou  shalt  be  called  by  a  new 
name,  which  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  shall  name.  Thou 
shalt  also  be  a  crown  of  beauty  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah, 
and  a  royal  diadem  in  the  hand  of  thy  God.  Thou  shalt  no 
more  be  termed  Forsaken;  neither  shall  thy  land  any  more 
be  termed  Desolate:  but  thou  shalt  be  called  Hephzi-bah, 
and  thy  land  Beulah;  for  Jehovah  delighteth  in  thee,  and 
thy  land  shall  be  married.  For  as  a  young  man  marrieth  a 
virgin,  so  shall  thy  sons  marry  thee;  and  as  the  bride- 
groom rejoiceth  over  the  bride,  so  shall  thy  God  rejoice 
over  thee. — Isa.  62:1-5. 

O  God,  whose  Kingdom  is  an  everlasting  kingdom  and 
whose  dominion  endureth  from  generation  to  generation, 
abase  our  pride  and  shatter  our  complacency.  Open  our  eyes 
to  see  the  vanity  of  this  world's  riches  and  renown;  make  usl 
to  understand  that  there  is  no  wealth  but  life,  that  living  men\ 
are  Thy  glory  and  our  life  is  the  vision  of  Thee.  Keep  us 
from  being  terrorised  by  wealth  and  influence,  or  beguiled  by 
pleas  of  custom  and  expediency,  or  distracted  by  the  glamor 
of  prosperity  and  aggrandisement;  keep  us  securely  in  Thy 
way  of  righteousness  and  truth.  Amen. — "Prayers  for  the 
City  of  God." 

Eighth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  the  latter  days,  that  the 
mountain  of  Jehovah's  house  shall  be  established  on  the 


[VIII-7]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

top  of  the  rhountains,  and  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills; 
and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it.  And  many  peoples  shall 
go  and  say,  Come  ye,  and  let  us  go  up  to  the  mountain  of 
Jehovah,  to  the  house  of  the  God  of  Jacob;  and  he  will 
teach  us  of  his  ways,  and  we  will  walk  in  his  paths:  for 
out  of  Zion  shall  go  forth  the  law,  and  the  word  of  Jehovah 
from  Jerusalem.  And  he  will  judge  between  the  nations, 
and  will  decide  concerning  many  peoples;  and  they  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  plowshares,  and  their  spears  into 
pruning-hooks ;  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against 
nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more. — Isa.  2 :  2-4. 

Cooperative  responsibility  must  overpass  national  lines,  if 
this  hope  of  the  prophet  is  to  be  fulfilled.  The  old  age  still 
lifts  up  its  voice  to  cry,  War  is  inevitable;  the  new  age  cries, 
War  is  no  more  inevitable  than  slavery !  The  old  age  still 
insists,  The  State  has  no  obligation  but  power ;  the  new  age 
answers,  The  State  can  be  as  Christian  as  a  man.  The  old 
age  urges,  All  nations  must  be  armed  against  each  other ;  the 
new  age  replies,  All  nations  must  cooperate  for  the  world's 
peace.  In  this  choice  between  Christ  and  Satan,  Christians 
have  an  enormous  stake.  War  in  its  origins,  motives,  methods, 
and  issues  is  the  most  powerful  anti-Christian  influence  on 
earth.  But  individual  service  alone  cannot  handle  the  problem. 
The  cooperative  organization  of  all  the  international  good 
will  there  is,  is  indispensable.  What  an  expanded,  steady, 
wise,  and  ardent  public-mindedness  will  be  necessary  to  make 
such  cooperation  win  the  day ! 

Almighty  God,  who  art  the  Father  of  all  men  upon  the  earth, 
most  heartily  we  pray  that  Thou  wilt  keep  Thy  children  from 
the  cruelties  of  war,  and  lead  the  nations  in  the  ivay  of  peace. 
Teach  us  to  put  away  all  bitterness  and  misunderstanding, 
.both  in  Church  and  State;  that  we,  with  all  the  brethren  of  the 
Son  of  Man,  may  draw  together  as  one  comity  of  peoples,  and 
dwell  evermore  in  the  fellowship  of  that  Prince  of  Peace, 
who  liveth  and  reigneth  with  Thee  in  the  unity  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  now  and  ever. — Percy  Dearmer. 

Eighth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Consider  this  paragraph  from  the  Edinburgh  Conference 
Report : 

"The  evangelization  of  Africa  means  something  more  than 
the  introduction  of  the  Gospel  into  existing  forms  of  social 

132 


COOPERATION  [VIII-7] 

life.  It  means  the  introduction  of  education  and  letters,  of 
agriculture  and  industries,  of  Christian  marriage  and  due  rec- 
ognition of  the  sanctity  of  human  life  and  property.  The  prob- 
lem before  the  Church  is  the  creation  of  an  African  civ- 
ilization." 

That  is  to  say,  Christianity  cannot  content  itself  with  the, 
cure  of  evil  already  done;  it  must  seek,  in  the  reconstruction! 
of  social  life,  the  prevention  of  the  evil  at  its  source.  Here' 
lies  the  ultimate  necessity  of  cooperation  as  contrasted  with 
individual  service.  Our  personal  usefulness  may  occasionally 
cure,  but  only  collective  effort  can  finally  prevent  the  rav- 
ages of  sin,  sickness,  poverty,  and  social  wrong.  To  relieve 
famine  sufferers  in  India  is  good ;  to  teach  them  collectively 
to  practice  irrigation  and  scientific  agriculture,  so  that  there 
will  be  no  famines,  is  better.  In  how  far  are  you,  through 
influence  and  gift,  supporting  the  great  cooperative  endeavors 
to  reach  the  social  roots  of  man's  ills  in  community,  nation, 
and  the  world? 

And  the  word  of  Jehovah  came  unto  me,  saying,  Son  of 
man,  prophesy  against  the  shepherds  of  Israel,  prophesy, 
and  say  unto  them,  even  to  the  shepherds,  Thus  saith  the 
Lord  Jehovah:  Woe  unto  the  shepherds  of  Israel  that  do 
feed  themselves!  should  not  the  shepherds  feed  the  sheep? 
Ye  eat  the  fat,  and  ye  clothe  you  with  the  wool, 
ye  kill  the  fatlings;  but  ye  feed  not  the  sheep.  The 
diseased  have  ye  not  strengthened,  neither  have  ye 
healed  that  which  was  sick,  neither  have  ye  bound  up 
that  which  was  broken,  neither  have  ye  brought  back  that 
which  was  driven  away,  neither  have  ye  sought  that  which 
was  lost;  but  with  force  and  with  rigor  have  ye  ruled 
over  them.  And  they  were  scattered,  because  there  was 
no  shepherd;  and  they  became  food  to  all  the  beasts  of 
the  field,  and  were  scattered.  My  sheep  wandered  through 
all  the  mountains,  and  upon  every  high  hill:  yea,  my  sheep 
were  scattered  upon  all  the  face  of  the  earth;  and  there 
was  none  that  did  search  or  seek  after  them. 

Therefore,  ye  shepherds,  hear  the  word  of  Jehovah: 
As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  surely  forasmuch  as  my 
sheep  became  a  prey,  and  my  sheep  became  food  to  all  the 
beasts  of  the  field,  because  there  was  no  shepherd,  neither 
did  my  shepherds  search  for  my  sheep,  but  the  shepherds 
fed  themselves,  and  fed  not  my  sheep;  therefore,  ye  shep- 
herds, hear  the  word  of  Jehovah:  Thus  saith  the  Lord 
Jehovah,  Behold,  I  am  against  the  shepherds;  and  I  will 
require  my  sheep  at  their  hand,  and  cause  them  to  cease 

133 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

from  feeding  the  sheep;  neither  shall  the  shepherds  feed 
themselves  any  more;  and  I  will  deliver  my  sheep  from 
their  mouth,  that  they  may  not  be  food  for  them. — Ezek. 
34:1-10. 

O  God,  we  praise  Thee  for  the  dream  of  the  golden  city  of 
peace  and  righteousness  which  has  ever  haunted  the  prophets 
of  humanity,  and  we  rejoice  with  joy  unspeakable  that  at  last 
the  people  have  conquered  the  freedom  and  knowledge  and 
power  which  may  avail  to  turn  into  reality  the  vision  that  so 
long  has  beckoned  in  vain.  We  pray  Thee  to*  revive  in  us  the 
hardy  spirit  of  our  forefathers,  that  we  may  establish  and  com- 
plete their  work,  building  on  the  basis  of  their  democracy  the 
firm  edifice  of  a  cooperative  commonwealth,  in  which  bath 
government  and  industry  shall  be  of  the  people,  by  the  people, 
and  for  the  people.  May  we,  who  now  live,  see  the  oncoming 
of  the  great  day  of  God,  when  all  men  shall  stand  side  by 
side  in  equal  worth  and  real  freedom,  all  toiling  and  all  reap- 
ing, masters  of  nature  but  brothers  of  men,  exultant  in  the 
tide  of  the  common  life,  and  jubilant  in  the  adoration  of  Thee, 
the  source  of  their  blessings  and  the  Father  of  all.  Amen. — 
Walter  Rauschenbusch. 

COMMENT    FOR   THE   WEEK 
I 

Hitherto  our  thought  'of  service  has  largely  concerned  itself 
with  one  individual's  usefulness  to  another.  But  the  finest 
forms  of  serviceable  living  are  reached  not  when  /  give  some 
helpful  ministry  to  you,  but  when  we  in  mutual  fellowship 
work  out  our  welfare  together.  The  most  gracious  and  the 
most  useful  ministries  are  found  in  cooperation.  So  a  mother 
long  blind  complimented  her  son :  "It  is  not  so  much  that  he 
does  things  for  me,  as  that  he  so  arranges  matters  that  we  can 
do  things  together." 

In  the  mutual  loyalties  which  such  partnerships  involve  most 
of  us  find  our  richest  satisfaction.  To  be  sure,  some  men  are 
made  to  work  in  solitude.  Newton  forbade  the  publication 
of  his  name  in  connection  with  his  solution  of  the  problem 
of  the  moon.  "It  would  perhaps  increase  my  acquaintance," 
he  wrote,  "the  thing  which  I  chiefly  study  to  decline."  Such 
solitary  living,  however,  is  reserved  for  geniuses.  Most  of 

134 


COOPERATION  [VIII-c] 

us  were  made  for  comradeship,  and  we  are  bereft  without  it. 
Said  a  very  young  and  lonely  lad,  "Mother,  I  wish  that  I  were 
two  little  puppies,  so  that  I  could  play  together."  Why,  from 
the  time  our  primitive  forefathers  communicated  with  one 
another  by  grunt  and  gesture  because  they  had  no  other  speech, 
has  man  so  tirelessly  worked  out  his  elaborate  languages,  until 
now  in  the  marvel  and  mystery  of  words  we  have  so  facile 
an  instrument?  The  motive  behind  the  development  of  lan- 
guage is  men's  irresistible  desire  to  break  over  the  isolating' 
barriers  that  separate  individuals  and  to  achieve  their  proper 
destiny  in  thinking  together  and  working  together  for  com- 
mon ends.  Self-preservation  may  be  the  strongest  instinct 
in  men,  but  close  alongside  is  the  companion  instinct  for  com- 
radeship. "Only  mankind  together  is  the  true  man,"  said 
Goethe,  "and  the  individual  can  be  joyous  and  happy  only 
when  he  feels  himself  in  the  whole." 

So  deeply  is  this  need  for  cooperation  wrought  into  all  life 
that  it  reveals  itself  long  before  man  arrives.  The  lowest 
orders  of  animals  do  indeed  appear  to  talk  like  this :  There  is 
barely  enough  food  to  go  around.  What  I  gain  you  lose  and 
what  I  lose  you  gain.  We  are  natural  enemies ;  there  is  be- 
tween us  an  unavoidable  hostility.  But  one  rises  only  a  little 
way  in  the  scale  of  animal  life  before  he  hears  a  different 
tone :  It  may  be  that  we  were  mistaken,  they  seem  to  say. 
It  may  be  that  our  mutual  antagonisms  are  superficial,  our 
mutual  interests  profound.  It  may  be  that  if  you  and  I  were 
blended  into  we,  we  could  do  more  for  both  of  us  than  either 
you  or  I  could  do  for  either  of  us.  So  the  bees  hive  and 
the  birds  flock  and  the  wolves  hunt  in  packs. 

"As  the  creeper  that  girdles  the  tree-trunk  the  law   runneth 

forward  and  back — 

For  the  strength  of  the  Pack  is  the  Wolf,  and  the  strength 
of  the  Wolf  is  the  Pack." 

What  begins  thus  among  animals  continues  among  men. 
The  story  of  advancing  civilization  is  mainly  the  record  of 
mankind's  enlarging  capacity  to  cooperate.  From  the  days 
when  humanity  began,  not  with  a  solitary  individual,  but  with 
a  unit  of  three — father,  mother,  and  child — to  the  days  when 
internationalism  becomes  a  live  issue  and  increasing  numbers 
of  people  think  in  planetary  terms,  we  can  mark  the  major 
changes  that  have  passed  over  human  life  in  terms  of  coop- 

135 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

eration,  its  enlargements  and  lapses,  its  victories  and  failures. 
In  our  time  the  whole  structure  of  human  life  is  so  intricately 
interrelated,  men,  no  matter  how  various  their  colors,  cus- 
toms, or  habitats,  are  so  inextricably  interdependent,  that  the 

i  problem    of   cooperation    has    become    supremely   the   critical 

•  question  of  the  world. 

No  kind  of  help,  therefore,  that  individuals  can  give  each 
other  exhausts  the  meaning  of  service.  For  all  the  fine  spirit 
manifest,  it  is  vain  for  one  man  to  lug  water  in  a  bucket  from 
a  spring  to  give  drink  to  the  thirsty  of  a  modern  town.  He 
must  serve  in  another  way.  He  must  call  a  town  meeting  and 
arouse  the  citizens  to  build  a  water  system  in  'cooperative 
effort  for  the  good  of  all.  However  admirable  in  intention 
it  may  be,  it  is  of  negligible  import  for  one  man  to  sweeten 
the  bitterness  of  war  by  maintaining  personal  friendship  with 
one  enemy  citizen.  The  problem  must  be  met  in  another  way. 
.  The  people  as  a  whole  must  be  aroused  to  see  the  immedicable 
evils  of  war,  to  hate  it  with  a  blazing  hatred,  to  purpose  its 
abolishment  with  all  their  hearts,  and  mutually  to  seek  those 
covenants  that  will  achieve  their  end.  From  the  smallest 
enterprises  to  the  greatest,  the  direst  human  need  is  far  be- 
yond the  reach  of  individual  usefulness. 

II 

This  basic  problem  in  human  relationships  received  its 
classic  Christian  treatment  in  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  chap- 
ters of  Paul's  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians.  The  twelfth 
chapter  pictures  the  cooperative  unity  of  human  life,  ideally 
presented  in  the  Church,  as  one  body  with  many  members. 
Not  like  loose  shot  in  a  bag,  isolate  and  unrelated,  does  Paul 
see  human  kind,  but  like  eyes,  ears,  hands,  feet,  in  one  body, 
vitally  joined  and  mutually  interdependent.  Having  presented 
this  unforgetable  picture  of  a  human  society  where  coopera- 
tion is  indispensable,  he  swings  out  into  the  thirteenth  chap- 
ter in  praise  of  that  most  excellent  and  necessary  of  all  gifts, 
love.  The  thirteenth  chapter  did  not  by  accident  follow  the 
twelfth.  It  is  the  fine  floiver  that  grows  up  out  of  the  roots 
of  the  twelfth.  Paul  saw  a  basic  fact  about  life,  that  we  are 
cooperating  members  one  of  another ;  then  he  declares  that 
only  one  quality  of  relationship  can  keep  such  members  from 
catastrophe.  Love  in  Paul's  thirteenth  chapter  is  the  neces- 

136 


COOPERATION  [VIII-c] 

sary  principle  of  conduct  in  life,  based  upon  the  major  fact 
about  life  which  his  twelfth  chapter  has  presented. 

Thoroughly  to  grasp  the  fact,  therefore,  that  we  are  vitally 
related  members  of  one  social  body,  to  see  it  vividly,  to  feel 
it  convincingly,  is  the  first  step  toward  understanding  the 
meaning  of  Christian  love.  Two  sets  of  forces  continually 
play  upon  us  like  centrifugal  and  centripetal  forces  among  the 
planets.  One  set  pulls  us  apart,  disentangles  us  from  each 
other,  sets  us  over  against  each  other,  sharply  individual  and 
competitive.  The  other  set  of  forces  weaves  us  together, 
places  the  solitary  in  families,  welds  us  into  friendships,  braids 
us  into  neighborhoods,  nations,  and  mankind.  Both  these  sets 
of  forces  are  present  in  life  and  both  are  needful,  but  one  of 
them  is  primary  and  the  other  is  secondary.  We  are  not  first 
of  all  isolated  individuals,  says  Paul ;  first  of  all  we  are  mem- 
bers of  the  social  body  and  have  no  true  life  apart  from  it. 
Therefore,  the  primary  law  of  life  is  not  selfishness ;  the  pri- 
mary law  is  love. 

A  man  can  assure  himself  that  this  is  true  by  many  tests. 
Let  him  look  back  to  the  source  out  of  which  his  life  has 
sprung.  If  from  the  day  of  birth  he  had  been  cast  upon  a 
desert  island  and  like  some  Romulus  had  been  suckled  by  a 
wolf,  and  then  had  grown,  utterly  cut  off  from  the  whole 
heritage  of  mankind's  past,  its  national  traditions,  its  social 
accumulations,  its  intellectual  gains,  its  religious  faiths,  would 
he  be  himself?  Rather  he  would  not  be  anybody.  He  would 
be  an  animal,  highly  organized,  it  may  be,  but  lacking  all  the 
characteristic  qualities  of  human  life.  A  person  so  abstracted 
from  his  social  background  is  no  person  at  all. 

Let  a  man  look  in  and,  granting  all  the  gains  of  past  inher- 
itance, let  him  consider  the  contributions  of  social  relation- 
ships that  immediately  surround  him !  If  he  goes  down  into 
the  thing  he  calls  his  self  and  rummages  through  its  contents 
as  one  searches  an  old  chest,  how  little  he  will  find  that  is  not 
social !  His  wife  and  children  are  there ;  they  are  a  part  of 
his  self.  His  relatives  and  friends  are  there,  his  neighborhood 
and  nation,  the  recreations  he  enjoys,  the  causes  that  he  loves. 
So  far  from  being  isolatedly  individual,  he  is  like  a  tree  in  a 
forest,  whose  trunk  indeed  stands  separate,  but  whose  branches 
are  twined  and  whose  roots  are  woven  into  an  inextricable 
network  with  all  the  other  trees,  and  whose  source  is  the  seeds 
of  forests  that  reach  back  into  the  past. 

137 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Or  let  a  man  look  out  into  the  world  about  him,  and  en- 
deavor to  picture  a  life  independent  of  the  society  from  which 
he  came  and  to  which  he  belongs !  Such  an  isolated  self  is 
as  difficult  to  imagine  as  the  grin  on  the  face  of  the  cat  in 
"Alice  in  Wonderland"  that  stayed  after  the  cat  had  gone. 
Ex-President  Harris  of  Amherst  College  has  drawn  for  us  the 
details  of  one  small  area  of  a  man's  unescapable  membership 
in  human  kind :  "When  he  rises,  a  sponge  is  placed  in  his 
hand  by  a  Pacific  Islander,  a  cake  of  soap  by  a  Frenchman,  a 
rough  towel  by  a  Turk.  His  merino  underwear  he  takes  from 
the  hand  of  a  Spaniard,  his  linen  from  a  Belfas.t  manufac- 
turer, his  outer  garments  from  a  Birmingham  weaver,  his 
scarf  from  a  French  silk-grower,  his  shoes  from  a  Brazilian 
grazier.  At  breakfast  his  cup  of  coffee  is  poured  by  natives 
of  Java  and  Arabia,  his  rolls  are  passed  by  a  Kansas  farmer, 
his  beefsteak  by  a  Texan  ranchman,  his  orange  by  a  Flor- 
ida Negro." 

Let  a  man  look  back,  or  in,  or  out,  he  sees  one  primary  fact. 
We  are  members  one  of  another.  Out  of  society  we  came, 
to  it  we  belong,  from  it  we  are  not  separable.  God  made  us 
what  we  are,  in  and  through  our  fellows.  "We  are  told  that 
our  body  is  a  little  condensed  air  living  in  the  air,"  says  Ga- 
briel de  Tarde.  "Might  we  not  say  that  our  soul  is  a  little 
bit  of  society  incarnate,  living  in  society?  Born  of  society, 
it  lives  by  means  of  it." 

But  if  the  principle  of  the  twelfth  chapter  of  First  Corin- 
thians is  true,  the  thirteenth  chapter  is  inevitable.  Nothing 
can  solve  the  problems  of  human  life,  so  constituted,  except 
cooperative  love.  "Is  it  true,"  some  one  asked,  "that  all  the 
people  in  the  world  could  get  into  the  state  of  Texas?"  "Yes," 
was  the  answer,  "if  they  were  friends."  So  always,  increase 
of  contacts  demands  access  of  friendliness.  Love  is  not  a 
luxury.  It  is  the  profoundest  practical  need  of  mankind.  On 
no  other  terms  can  human  life  sustain  the  mutual  relation- 
ships into  which  by  its  very  nature  it  is  increasingly  com- 
pressed. 

Ill 

It  is  a  great  day  for  a  Christian  when  he  sees  that  the 
gospel  of  love  is  founded  on  the  rock  of  fact.  Many  people 
think  of  love  as  an  ideal  sentiment,  a  gracious  iridescent  qual- 

138 


COOPERATION  [VIII-c] 

ity,  which  gives  a  touch  of  radiant  color  to  life's  solid  struc- 
ture, otherwise  complete.  "Upon  the  top  of  the  pillars  was 
lily  work":  runs  an  Old  Testament  verse,  "so  was  the  work  of 
the  pillars  finished."  Such  floral  decoration  upon  the  substan- 
tial column  of  man's  life  does  love  appear  to  be.  Ask  a  man 
what  makes  life  strong  and  he  thinks  of  self-seeking  power; 
ask  him  what  makes  life  winsome  and  he  thinks  of  love.  He 
changes  gear  from  business  to  sentiment  when  he  picks  up 
the  thirteenth  chapter  of  First  Corinthians.  But  that  chapter 
is  not  sentiment.  It  is  the  plain  statement  of  the  way  of  living 
which  alone  corresponds  with  the  facts  of  life.  On  no  other 
basis  can  humanity,  constituted  as  it  is,  live  decently  and 
fortunately  upon  the  earth. 

The  solid  grounding  which  the  gospel  of  cooperative  love 
has  in  the  facts  of  life  is  clear  when  one  considers  history. 
Whatever  real  progress  mankind  has  made  has  lain  in  the 
redemption  of  new  areas  of  life  from  the  regime  of  violence 
to  the  regime  of  good  will.  The  family  used  to  be  founded 
upon  force.  Men  did  not  woo  their  wives,  they  captured  them 
by  violence  and  held  them  by  constraint.  Parents  were  not 
bound  to  love  their  children.  Infants  were  exposed  at  birth  if 
the  parents  chose,  and  fathers  held  the  absolute  power  of  life 
and  death  over  their  growing  offspring.  Moreover,  this 
regime  of  violence  was  counted  on  in  theory  as  well  as  fact 
as  necessary  to  sustain  the  home.  Could  anyone  from  a  mod- 
ern Christian  family  have  entered  such  a  household  and  ex- 
plained the  constitution  of  a  home  where  marriage  is  an 
affair  of  mutual  love  and  mutual  consent,  where  the  children 
from  their  earliest  childhood  are  cooperating  members  of 
the  family,  not  driven  by  violence  but  won  by  love,  and  where 
so  far  from  having  power  to  kill  their  children,  parents  admin- 
ister the  simplest  corporal  punishment  only  as  a  last  resort, 
the  visitor  would  have  been  met  with  utter  incredulity.  He 
would  have  seemed  an  arrant  sentimentalist  to  suppose  that 
a  family  could  so  be  run  by  love  instead  of  violence.  The 
fact  is,  however,  that  family  life  over  wide  areas  has  actually 
been  thus  redeemed.  Only  when  such  redemption  is  wrought 
does  a  family  come  to  its  true  nature,  and  no  one  who  knows 
what  a  family  can  thus  become,  would  propose  relapse  into 
the  old  barbarism. 

So,  too,  the  school  used  to  be  founded  upon  force.  An  un- 
whipped  child  was  a  lost  opportunity.  Of  the  Rev.  James 

139 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Boyer,  an  English  schoolmaster,  it  was  said  that  "it  was  lucky 
the  cherubim  who  took  him  to  heaven  were  nothing  but  wings 
and  faces,  or  he  infallibly  would  have  flogged  them  by  the 
way."  The  stories  of  cruel  punishment  pitilessly  inflicted 'as  a 
matter  of  principle  upon  unwary  children  are  almost  incredible 
to  a  modern  mind.  But  they  are  not  so  incredible  as  would 
have  been  the  description  of  a  modern  school  to  one  of  the  old 
schoolmasters.  To  have  a  school  the  children  deeply  love, 
around  which  their  thoughts  of  play  center  as  well  as  their 
thoughts  of  work,  in  which  they  are  cooperating  members, 
and  from  which  violence  has  been  excluded  as  a  needless  in- 
truder— that  would  have  left  an  ancient  pedagogue  utterly 
incredulous.  The  man  who  proposed  it  would  have  seemed 
impossibly  sentimental.  But  the  taunted  dreamers  have  turned 
out  to  be  right.  The  facts  were  too  much  for  the  old  educa- 
tors, who,  like  the  Sadducee,  cried,  "My  right  arm  is  my 
god."  No  one  who  knows  the  truth  supposes  that  in  a  school 
cooperative  good  will  will  not  work.  It  is  the  only  thing  that 
will  work. 

Religion  also  used  to  be  under  the  domain  of  force.  Let  a 
man  come  into  the  Church  willingly,  if  he  would,  but  if  he 
willfully  refused,  then  violence  was  the  swift  and  terrible 
resort.  The.  Christian  centuries  are  sick  with  cruelties  born 
of  the  endeavor  to  make  terror  a  motive  for  the  Christian  life, 
and  violence  an  effective  minister  of  the  Christian  Church. 
One  does  not  wonder  at  accounts  of  black-haired  priests  going 
into  torture  chambers  to  force  the  recantation  of  disapproved 
beliefs  and  coming  out  white-haired  with  the  horror  of  their 
own  performances.  It  seemed  incredible  that  the  Church  could 
be  made  a  matter  of  voluntary  cooperation.  To  tolerate  in 
other  men  beliefs  you  did  not  hold  yourself  seemed  as  much 
as  denying  your  convictions.  Cried  Thomas  Edwards :  "Could 
the  devil  effect  a  toleration,  he  would  think  he  had  gained 
well  by  the  Reformation,  and  make  a  good  exchange  of  the 
hierarchy  to  have  a  toleration  for  it."  Said  the  saintly  Baxter : 
"I  abhor  unlimited  liberty  and  toleration  of  all,  and  think  my- 
self easily  able  to  prove  the  wickedness  of  it."  The  Long 
Parliament  in  1648  made  death  the  penalty  for  eight  errors  in 
doctrine  and  indefinite  imprisonment  the  penalty  for  sixteen 
others.  But  the  facts  were  too  much  for  these  blind  cham- 
pions of  forced  religion.  Human  life  is  fundamentally  built 
to  be  voluntarily  cooperative,  and  the  highest  area  of  human 

140 


COOPERATION  [VIII-c] 

life,  religion,  never  came  to  its  own  until  it  was  redeemed 
from  the  regime  of  force. 

All  progress  moves  thus  to  the  rescuing  of  some  new  area 
of  life  from  violence  to  the  domain  of  cooperative  good  will. 
Already  we  have  gone  a  long  way  on  that  road  in  local  gov- 
ernment. Once  family  feuds  were  matters  of  course.  How 
else  could  one  sustain  the  honor  of  his  clan?  But  wherever 
that  old  barbarism  still  maintains  its  belated  sway,  it  is  the 
butt  of  general  contempt  and  ridicule.  Yet  there  was  a  time 
when  the  whole  idea  of  settled  local  government,  with  ordered 
justice  strong  enough  to  make  armed  residences  needless  and 
family  feuds  a  shame,  seemed  as  Utopian  as  a  warless  world. 
From  the  city  of  Florence  in  the  fourteenth  century  to  the 
city  of  Florence  in  the  twentieth  century  is  as  long  a  step  as 
from  the  Europe  of  1914  to  the  Europe  of  the  international- 
ist's dream. 

Moreover,  what  has  been  done  in  the  government  of  neigh- 
borhoods has  become  indispensable  in  the  larger  government 
of  nations.  Once  all  sovereignty  was  assumed  to  rest  on 
power.  The  king  could  slay  or  keep  alive  and  by  that  right 
he  ruled.  But  one  day  mankind  turned  a  corner  and  came 
face  to  face  with  a  prodigious  and  revolutionary  thought :  all 
the  people  can  be  trusted  in  cooperative  fellowship  to  estab- 
lish laws  which  then  all  the  people  together  will  obey.  That 
idea  seemed  incredible  to  multitudes.  That  the  great  mass 
of  men  could  be  trusted  loyally  to  say  our  government — for 
that  is  the  gist  of  democracy — was  Utopian  beyond  belief. 
But  the  facts  were  all  on  the  side  of  the  new  hope,  for  human 
life  is  essentially  built  to  be  cooperative  and  cooperation  is 
the  only  way  of  life  that  in  the  end  will  work. 

In  family,  school,  church,  neighborhood,  state,  all  progress 
has  consisted  in  this  substitution  of  cooperative  good  will  for 
violence.  This  is  the  essence  of  the  redemption  by  which  the 
social  life  of  humanity  is  saved.  And  when  in  our  generation 
the  hopes  of  increasing  multitudes  begin  to  center  around  a 
cooperative  industrial  system  instead  of  a  continuance  of  dis- 
order and  violence,  and  around  a  cooperative  internationalism 
instead  of  a  continuance  of  world-wide  chaos  and  anarchy, 
the  facts  of  life  are  all  on  the  side  of  the  new  hopes.  Many 
experiments  will  have  to  be  tried ;  blunders  and  excesses  may 
mark  the  trail  of  the  advance ;  obstacles  at  times  may  well 
appear  to  faint-hearted  folk  to  be  insuperable;  and  always 

141 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

there  are  some — the  belated,  the  obstinate,  the  criminally- 
minded — who  refuse  to  move  up  into  the  spirit  of  the  new 
regime,  upon  whom  force  must  still  be  used.  But  the  general 
mass  of  human  kind  are  capable  of  enlarging  cooperation,  and 
already  mankind  has  gone  too  far  on  the  road  from  force 
toward  fellowship  to  turn  back. 

IV 

Tolerance,  patience,  selflessness,  faith,  courage,  fairness, 
tact,  magnanimity — what  fineness  and  strength  of  character 
are  required  by  anyone  who  undertakes  to  be  a  cooperator ! 
Many  a  man  finds  it  far  easier  to  be  individually  useful.  He 
enjoys  the  flattering  sense  of -his  own  munificence,  when  he  as 
one  individual  gives  service  to  another.  Charles  Lamb  once 
said  that  the  happiest  sensation  in  the  world  is  to  do  a  good 
deed  in  secret  and  to  have  it  found  out  by  accident.  So  does 
a  superior's  helpfulness  to  an  inferior  prove  one  of  the  most 
personally  gratifying  experiences  which  the  superior  enjoys. 
It  increases  his  consciousness  of  superiority.  But  to  be  a  good 
cooperator  means  the  abnegation  of  pride,  the  esteeming  of 
others  better  than  oneself,  the  willingness  to  take  a  lowly  place 
in  the  fellowship  of  common  enterprise,  the  loss  of  anxious 
self-seeking  in  collective  enthusiasm.  To  be  a  good  cooperator 
involves  the  possession  of  a  love  that  suffers  long  and  is  kind, 
envies  not,  vaunts  not  itself,  is  not  puffed  up,  does  not  behave 
,  itself  unseemly,  is  not  easily  provoked,  keeps  no  record  of 
injuries,  bears,  hopes,  believes,  and  endures  all  things. 

Even  in  individual  service  this  spirit  of  cooperation  is  indis- 
pensable to  real  effectiveness.  A  great  industrial  leader  is  said 
to  have  called  to  his  office  a  young  man  in  his  employ  who  was 
going  wrong  with  drink.  The  employe  with  shaking  knees 
went  up  to  his  chief,  expecting  his  discharge.  The  end  of  an 
hour's  conversation  ran  like  this:  "My  boy,"  said  the  chief, 
"we  are  not  going  to  drink  any  more,  are  we?"  "No,  sir," 
said  the  youth,  "we're  not!"  "And  we  are  going  to  send  each 
week  so  much  money  home  to  the  wife  and  kiddies,  aren't 
we?"  "By  heaven,  sir!"  said  the  youth,  "we  will!"  To  serve 
folk  not  only  by  doing  service  for  them,  but  working  with 
them,  is  the  very  essence  of  the  finest  helpfulness. 

When  one's  thought  moves  out  from  such  individual  rela- 
tionships to  the  problems  of  philanthropy,  the  same  truth 

142 


COOPERATION  [VIII-c] 

stands  clear.  Charles  Kingsley  once  told  Huxley  the  story 
of  two  mullahs  who  came  to  a  heathen  khan  in  Tartary  to 
win  his  allegiance  to  their  gods.  The  first  mullah  argued, 
"O  Khan,  worship  my  god,  he  is  so  wise  that  he  made  all 
things !"  The  second  mullah  argued,  "O  Khan,  worship  my 
god,  he  is  so  wise  that  he  makes  all  things  make  themselves !" 
For  an  obvious  and  sufficient  reason  the  second  god  won  out. 
For,  whether  with  God  or  man,  to  work  upon  another  from 
without  is  not  half  so  serviceable  as  to  work  with  another 
from  within.  Parental  dictatorship  in  a  family  is  easier  than 
comradeship,  but  it  is  correspondingly  valueless.  Welfare 
work  in  a  factory,  handed  down  from  above,  is  easier  than 
cooperative  industrial  democracy,  but  it  is  correspondingly 
ineffective.  Munificent  largess  to  a  ne'er-do-well  is  easier 
than  cooperative  measures  to  encourage  him  in  self-support, 
but  only  the  latter  amounts  to  much.  No  normal  person  wishes 
to  be  served  by  condescension ;  any  normal  person  welcomes 
service  by  cooperation.  "If  I  bestow  all  my  goods  to  feed 
the  poor,"  said  Paul,  "and  have  not  love,'  it  profiteth  -me 
nothing." 

If  the  spirit  of  cooperation  is  so  essential  to  the  finest  use- 
fulness in  individual  relationships,  and  in  family,  factory,  and 
philanthropy,  how  deep  is  the  need  of  it  and  how  searching 
its  demands  if  one  is  to  serve  the  coming  of  world-wide  human 
brotherhood !  No  small,  provincial  soul  can  ever  understand 
the  hopes  of  international  fraternity.  The  cooperative  mind 
at  its  largest  and  its  best  is  needed  here.  What  holds  back 
the  coming  of  human  brothe'rhood  is  not  basic  impossibility  in 
achieving  a  world  where  reason  and  fraternity  have  taken  the 
place  of  violence  and  exploitation;  it  is  the  provincial  mind. 
All  false  pride  of  caste  and  class  and  rank,  of  race  and  nation, 
is  provincialism,  and  provincialism  is  simply  self -inflation  in 
one  of  its  most  deadly  forms.  The  Hottentots  call  them- 
selves "the  men  of  men";  the  Eskimos  call  themselves  "the 
complete  people,"  but  their  neighbors  the  Indians  "are  louse- 
eggs";  the  Haytian  aborigines  believed  their  island  was  the 
first  of  all  created  things,  that  the  sun  and  moon  issued  from 
one  of  its  caves  and  men  from  another ;  to  the  Japanese  Nip- 
pon was  the  middle  point  of  the  world,  and  the  Shah  of 
Persia  yet  retains  the  title  "The  Center  of  the  Universe."  That 
is  provincialism.  When  Americans  or  British  or  Frenchmen 
or  Germans  talk  in  the  same  spirit,  it  is  provincialism  still, 

143 


[VIII-c]          THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

a  wretched  survival  of  belated  racial  egoism — one  of  the  dead- 
liest forms  of  selfishness  known  to  men. 

This  does  not  mean  that  a  man  should  not  love  his  own 
people  best  of  all.  A  man  should  love  his  own  people,  as  his 
own  mother,  with  a  unique  devotion.  Ties  of  nature  are 
there  which  it  is  folly  to  deny.  A  man  can  mean  to  his  own 
mother  and  she  can  mean  to  him  what  no  other  man's  mother 
can  mean  to  him  or  he  can  mean  to  any  other  man's  mother. 
What  is  true  of  mothers  is  true  of  motherlands.  We  are  bone 
of  their  bone,  blood  of  their  blood,  bred  in  their  traditions,  and 
suckled  at  their  breasts.  We  can  do  for  our  own  people  and 
they  can  do  for  us,  what  no  other  people  can  give  to  us  or 
claim  from  us.  Unique  relationships  are  sacred  because  they 
offer  the  opportunity  for  unique  service. 

One  primary  effect,  however,  of  such  devotion  to  one's  own 
mother  should  be  the  making  of  all  motherhood  everywhere 
infinitely  sacred.  He  is  a  poor  son  whose  sonship  does  not 
make  him  desire  to  serve  all  men's  mothers.  He  is  a  poor 
patriot  whose  patriotism  does  not  enable  him  to  understand 
how  all  men  everywhere  feel  about  their  altars  and  their 
hearthstones,  their  flags  and  their  fatherland.  Local  patriot- 
ism should  be  the  open  door  into  universal  sympathy.  Nation- 
alism should  not  hold  back  from  but  lead  to  internationalism. 
He  who  thinks  that  loyalty  to  his  family  means  dislike  of  his 
village  is  a  fool.  A  good  family  and  a  good  village  are  ful- 
filled in  each  other ;  so  are  a  good  nationalism  and  a  good 
internationalism  the  complement  one  of  the  other.  But  it 
requires  a  conquest  of  self-inflation  by  the  cooperative  spirit 
to  perceive  it.  Such  a  victory  over  his  own  provincialism  is 
one  of  the  first  necessities  for  the  man  who  seeks  to  be  useful 
to  his  generation's  deepest  need  and  greatest  task.  He  must 
rise  above  inveterate  racial  prejudices  and  animosities,  above 
the  scorn  that  embitters  the  color  line,  above  the  petty  pride 
that  is  contemptuous  of  strange  customs,  strange  clothes, 
strange  speech,  above  the  jingoism  of  perverted  patriots. 
He  must  learn  to  say  our  in  friendship  and  family,  in  factory 
and  philanthropy,  in  world-wide  sympathy  and  good  will,  or 
else  he  ought  forever  to  forgo  the  Lord's  Prayer,  "Our 
Father  who  art  in  heaven." 


CHAPTER  IX 

New  Forms  of  Service 

DAILY    READINGS 

"Truth  is  compar'd  in  Scripture  to  a  streaming  fountain," 
wrote  Milton.  "If  her  waters  flow  not  in  perpetuall  pro- 
gression, they  sick'n  into  a  muddy  pool  of  conformity  and 
tradition."  What  is  true  of  man's  ideas  is  true  also  of  their 
practical  expressions.  Methods  of  work  change.  To  print 
from  Gutenberg's  movable  wooden  type  after  the  Hoe  mul- 
tiple press  and  the  linotype  machine  have  arrived,  is  misdi- 
rected energy.  Methods  of  service  also  change,  or,  refusing 
to  progress,  may  harden  into  set  forms  which  a  new  genera- 
tion will  find  inadequate.  In  this  week's  study  let  us  see  the 
application  of  this  general  truth  to  our  own  generation's 
problems. 

Ninth  Week,  First  Day 

Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father 
is  this,  to  vjsit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction, 
and  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the  world. — James 
i:  27. 

But  whoso  hath  the  world's  goods,  and  beholdeth  his 
brother  in  need,  and  shutteth  up  his  compassion  from  him, 
how  doth  the  love  of  God  abide  in  him?  My  little  chil- 
dren, let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither  with  the  tongue;  but 
in  deed  and  truth. — I  John  3:  17,  18. 

Some  people  still  need  to  see  with  unmistakable  clearness 
that  Christian  service  is  not  simply  a  spiritual  ministry  to 
men's  souls.  A  certain  type  of  mind  always  is  tempted  to 
conceive  this  present  life  as  a  short,  narrow-gauge  railroad, 
whose  one  objective  is  the  junction  of  death,  where  the 
through  express  of  immortality  is  met.  All  questions  of  com- 
fort, health,  and  wholesome  circumstance  upon  this  present 
shuttle-train  seem  negligible.  We  shall  not  be  here  long.  To 
achieve  a  fortunate  immortality  is  the  one  absorbing  and  ex- 
clusive aim  of  religion.  But  long  since  it  has  become  evident 

145 


[IX-2]  THE  MEANING  OP  SERVICE 

that  the  spiritual  interests  of  men  are  powerfully  affected  by 
outward  circumstance.  "Here  then  is  Africa's  challenge  to 
its  missionaries,"  writes  Dan  Crawford  in  "Thinking  Black": 
"Will  they  allow  a  whole  continent  to  live  like  beasts  in  hovels, 
millions  of  negroes  cribbed,  cabined,  and  confined  in  dens  of 
disease?  No  doubt  it  is  our  diurnal  duty  to  preach 'that  the 
soul  of  all  improvement  is  the  improvement  of  the  soul.  But 
God's  equilateral  triangle  of  body,  soul,  and  spirit  must  never 
be  ignored.  Is  not  the  body  wholly  ensouled,  and  is  not  the 
soul  wholly  embodied?  ...  In  other  words,  in  Africa  the  only 
true  fulfilling  of  your  heavenly  calling  is  the  doing  of  earthly 
things  in  a  heavenly  manner."  In  view  of  the  plain  insistence 
of  the  New  Testament,  is  there  any  other  way  of  fulfilling 
our  heavenly  calling  in  Britain  or  America? 

Pour  into  our  hearts  the  spirit  of  unselfishness,  so  that, 
when  our  cup  overflows,  we  may  seek  to  share  our  happiness 
with  our  brethren.  O  Thou  God  of  Love,  who  makest  Thy 
sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and  on  the  good,  and  sendest  rain  on 
the  just  and  on  the  unjust,  grant  that  we  may  become  more  and 
more  Thy  true  children,  by  receiving  into  our  souls  more  of 
Thine  own  spirit  of  ungrudging  and  unwearying  kindness; 
which  we  ask  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. — John 
Hunter. 

Ninth  Week,  Second  Day 

I  planted,  Apollos  watered;  but  God  gave  the  increase. 
So  then  neither  is  he  that  planteth  anything,  neither  he 
that  watereth;  but  God  that  giveth  the  increase.  Now 
he  that  planteth  and  he  that  watereth  are  one:  but  each 
shall  receive  his  own  reward  according  to  his  own  labor. 
For  we  are  God's  fellow- workers :  ye  are  God's  husbandry, 
God's  building. — I  Cor.  3:6-9. 

Many   folk  need  to  achieve  in  a   modern  way   this  happy 
blending   of  dependence  on   God  with   energetic  work.     For 
many  are  still  living  in  the  pre-scientific  age  before  the  law- 
abiding  forces  of  the  world  were  so  largely   delivered  into 
i  man's  hands,  and  they  are  tempted  to  trust  God  to  do  for 
i  them  what  he  is  waiting  to  do  through  them.    Before  medical 
science  came,  a  plague  was  the  occasion  of  public  penitence 
in  the  churches.    Men  knew  no  other  help  for  a  pestilence  than 
dependence  on  God.     Now,  however,  we  know  that  God  has 

146 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERI'ICE  [IX-a] 

put  into  our  hands  the  means  by  which,  if  we  will,  age-long 
plagues  can  be  driven  from  the  earth.  He  is  waiting  to  do 
through  man,  by  means  of  the  wise  and  devoted  use  of  law- 
abiding  forces,  more  than  our  fathers  ever  dared  ask  him 
to  do  for  man.  A  plague  now  ought  indeed  to  drive  us  to 
our  knees,  but  in  penitence  that  we  have  used  to  so  little  pur- 
pose the  powers  intrusted  to  us.  A  pestilence  ought  indeed 
to  make  us  cry  to  God,  but  for  help  to  be  more  faithful  in 
letting  him  use  our  dedicated  knowledge  for  the  saving  of 
the  race  from  its  inveterate  ills.  A  new  and  massive  mean- 
ing has  come  into  the  old  truth,  "We  are  God's  fellow- 
workers."  Dependence  on  God  does  not  mean  sitting  still : 
it  means  in  part  letting  God  use  us  to  put  at  man's  disposal 
all  the  potential  service  which  is  still  folded  in  our  new  knowl- 
edge of  natural  law. 

O  God,  we  rejoice  in  the  tireless  daring  ivith  which  some 
are  now  tracking  the  great  slayers  of  mankind  by  the  white 
light  of  science.  Grant  that  under  their  teaching  we  may 
grapple  with  the  sins  which  have  ever  dealt  death  to  the  race, 
and  that  we  may*  so  order  the  life  of  our  communities  that 
none  may  be  doomed  to  an  untimely  death  for  lack  of  the 
simple  gifts  which  Thou  hast  given  in  abundance.  Make 
Thou  our  doctors  the  prophets  and  soldiers  of  Thy  kingdom, 
zt'hich  is  the  reign  of  cleanliness  and  self-restraint  and  the 
dominion  of  health  and  joyous  life.  Amen. — Walter  Rau- 
schenbusch. 

Ninth  Week,  Third  Day 

When  a  man  recognizes  thus  his  Christian  responsibility  to 
minister  to  all  the  needs  of  men,  and  his  further  obligation  to 
use  in  that  ministry  all  the  powers  available,  he  finds  himself 
faced  in  our  modern  world  with  four  new  conditions  which 
must  somehow  be  handled  in  the  interests  of  service. 

First,  the  modern  Christian  faces  the  new  powers  conferred 
by  science.  Whether  man  is  going  to  wreck  himself  with 
these  or  with  them  rebuild  a  fairer  world  is  one  of  the  crucial 
questions  of  the  coming  centuries.  Saloman  Reinach,  looking 
forward  to  the  Peace  Conference  at  Versailles,  wrote: 

"At  the  future  Congress,  among  the  seats  reserved  for  the 
delegates  of  the  great  Powers,  one  seat  should  remain  vacant, 
as  reserved  to  the  greatest,  the  most  redoubtable,  though 

147 


[IX-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

youngest  of  Powers :  science  in  scarlet  robes.  That  is  the 
new  fact ;  that  is  what  diplomacy  should  not  ignore,  if  that 
imminent  and  execrable  scandal  is  to  be  averted — the  whole 
of  civilization  falling  a  victim  to  science,  her  dearest  daughter, 
brought  forth  and  nurtured  by  her,  now  ready  to  deal  her  the 
death-blow.  The  all-important  question  is  the  muzzling  of 
the  mad  dog.  Science,  as  subservient  to  the  will  to  destroy, 
must  be  put  in  chains;  science  must  be  exclusively  adapted 
to  the  works  of  peace." 

How  prodigious  a  problem  is  this  which  the  servants  of 
man  must  somehow  succeed  in  solving,  if  we  are  not  to  be 
lost !  For  if  we  cannot  harness  science  to  service,  all  our 
vaunted  knowledge  will  come  to  no  better  issue  than  that  long 
ago  reported  by  a  disillusioned  naturalist : 

I  the  Preacher  was  king  over  Israel  in  Jerusalem.  And 
I  applied  my  heart  to  seek  and  to  search  out  by  wisdom 
concerning  all  that  is  done  under  heaven:  it  is  a  sore 
travail  that  God  hath  given  to  the  sons  of  men  to  be  ex- 
ercised therewith.  I  have  seen  all  the  works  that  are  done 
under  the  sun;  and,  behold,  all  is  vanity  and  a  striving 
after  wind.  That  which  is  crooked  #annot  be  made 
straight;  and  that  which  is  wanting  cannot  be  numbered. 
I  communed  with  mine  own  heart,  saying,  Lo,  I  have  got- 
ten me  great  wisdom  above  all  that  were  before  me  in 
Jerusalem ;  yea,  my  heart  hath  had  great  experience  of 
wisdom  and  knowledge.  And  I  applied  my  heart  to  know 
wisdom,  and  to  know  madness  and  folly:  I  perceived  that 
this  also  was  a  striving  after  wind.  For  in  much  wisdom 
is  much  grief;  and  he  that  increaseth  knowledge  increas- 
eth  sorrow. — Eccl.  1:12-18. 

We  praise  Thee,  O  Lord,  for  that  mysterious  spark  of  thy 
light  Tvithin  us,  the  intellect  of  man,  for  Thou  hast  kindled 
it  in  the  beginning  and  by  the  breath  of  Thy  spirit  it  has 
grown  to  naming  power  in  our  race. 

We  rejoice  in  the  men  of  genius  and  intellectual  vision  who 
discern  the  undiscovered  applications  of  Thy  laws  and  dig  the 
deeper  springs  through  which  the  hidden  forces  of  Thy  world 
may  well  up  to  the  light  of  day.  We  claim  them  as  our  own 
in  Thee,  as  members  with  us  in  the  common  body  of  humanity, 
of  which  Thou  art  the  all-pervading  life  and  inspirer.  Grant 
them,  we  pray  Thee,  the  divine  humility  of  Thine  elect  souls, 
to  realise  that  they  are  sent  of  Thee  as  brothers  and  helpers 
of  men  and  that  the  powers  within  them  are  but  part  of  the 

148 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-4] 

•vast  equipment  of  humanity,  entrusted  to  them  for  the  com- 
mon use.  May  they  bow  to  the  law  of  Christ  and  live,  not  to 
be  served,  but  to  give  their  abilities  for  the  emancipation  of 
the  higher  life  of  man.  Amen. — Walter  Rauschenbusch. 

Ninth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

The  second  factor  with  which  the  modern  Christian  must 
deal  is  new  contacts  between  races  and  people. 

When  the  proposal  to  evangelize  the  heathen  was  brought 
before  the  Assembly  of  the  Scotch  Church  in  1796,  it  was  met 
by  a  resolution,  that  "to  spread  abroad  the  knowledge  of  the 
Gospel  amongst  barbarous  and  heathen  nations  seems  to  be 
highly  preposterous,  in  so  far  as  philosophy  and  learning  must 
in  the  nature  of  things  take  the  precedence,  and  that  while 
there  remains  at  home  a  single  individual  every  year  without 
the  means  of  religious  knowledge,  to  propagate  it  abroad 
would  be  improper  and  absurd."  And  then  Dr.  Erskine  called 
to  the  Moderator,  "Rax  me  that  Bible,"  and  he  read  the 
words  of  the  great  commission  in  a  voice  which  burst  upon 
them  like  a  clap  ©f  thunder.  Such  a  policy  of  aloofness  as 
that  proposed  by  the  Scotch  Assembly  now  would  be  impos- 
sible whether  to  churches  or  to  states.  The  world  is  webbed 
into  one  fabric ;  we  cannot  longer  live  apart.  In  the  new 
contacts  lie  possibilities  of  organized  fraternity  such  as  man- 
kind never  before  possessed ;  in  the  same  contacts  lie  ter- 
rific possibilities  of  friction,  strife,  and*  endless  war.  In 
what  new  and  unexplored  regions  must  the  old  spirit  of  serv- 
ice in  our  day  become  a  pioneer ! 

So,  in  his  smaller  world,  long  centuries  ago,  Isaiah  dreamed : 

In  that  day  shall  there  be  a  highway  out  of  Egypt  to 
Assyria,  and  the  Assyrian  shall  come  into  Egypt,  and  the 
Egyptian  into  Assyria;  and  the  Egyptians  shall  worship 
with  the  Assyrians. 

In  that  day  shall  Israel  be  the  third  with  Egypt  and  with 
Assyria,  a  blessing  in  the  midst  of  the  earth;  for  that 
Jehovah  of  hosts  hath  blessed  them,  saying,  Blessed  be 
Egypt  my  people,  and  Assyria  the  work  of  my  hands,  and 
Israel  mine  inheritance. — Isa.  19:23-25. 

Almighty  God,  Ruler  of  the  nations  .  .  .  quicken  our  con- 
sciences that  we  may  feel  the  sin  and  shame  of  war.  Inspire 
us  with  courage  and  faith  that  we  may  lift  up  our  voices 

149 


[IX-s]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

against  private  greed,  social  injustice,  the  aggression  of  the 
•.  strong  on  the  weak,  and  whatsoever  else  li'orks  enmity  be- 
tween man  and  man,  class  and  class,  nation  and  nation.  Cre- 
ate within  us  a  passion  for  the  reign  of  righteousness,  the 
spread  of  brotherhood  and  good  will  among  the  nations,  so 
that  we  may  hasten  the  fulfilment  of  Thine  ancient  word, 
"Nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation,  neither  shall 
they  learn  war  any  more."  Amen. — Samuel  McComb. 

Ninth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

The  third  factor  with  which  the  modern  Christian  must 
---  deal  is  new  wealth.  There  never  has  been  so  much  wealth 
in  the  world.  We  are  right  in  our  indignation  against  in- 
justice in  its  making  and  in  its  distribution,  but  the  fact  re- 
mains that  history  offers  no  parallel  to  the  increase  of  wealth 
which  the  last  few  generations  have  created.  Nor  has  the 
comparative  centralization  of  that  wealth  in  a  few  hands  pre- 
vented widespread  increase  in  the  general  comfort  of  living 
for  the  majority  of  the  people.  An  average  laboring  man 
takes  for  granted  luxuries  of  which  a  medieval  princeling 
never  dreamed.  Now  wealth  is  a  potential  servant  or  de- 
stroyer of  manhood,  with  almost  magical  powers.  To  harness 
money  for  usefulness,  to  create  the  sense  of  stewardship  in 
those  who  possess  it,  to  educate  all  the  people  in  the  minis- 
tries to  which  it  can  be  put,  to  redeem  money  from  sordidness 
and  to  baptize  it  into  the  service  of  God  and  his  children,  this 
is  one  of  the  great  tasks  of  the  modern  age. 

Moreover,  brethren,  we  make  known  to  you  the  grace 
of  God  which  hath  been  given  in  the  churches  of  Mace- 
donia; how  that  in  much  proof  of  affliction  the  abundance 
of  their  joy  and  their  deep  poverty  abounded  unto  the 
riches  of  their  liberality.  For  according  to  their  power, 
I  bear  witness,  yea  and  beyond  their  power,  they  gave  of 
their  own  accord,  beseeching  us  with  much  entreaty  in 
regard  of  this  grace  and  the  fellowship  in  the  ministering 
to  the  saints:  and  this,  not  as  we  had  hoped,  but  first  they 
gave  their  own  selves  to  the  Lord,  and  to  us  through  the 
will  of  God.— II  Cor.  8: 1-5. 

Lord  of  all  things  in  heaven  and  earth,  the  land  and  the 
sea  and  all  that  therein  is;  take  from  us,  we  humbly  implore 
Thee,  the  spirit  of  gain  and  covetousness;  give  us  the  spirit 

ISO 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-6] 

of  service,  so  that  none  may  want,  but  each  according  to  hi? 
need  may  share  in  Thy  bountiful  liberality;  for  the  love  of 
Thine  only  Son  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. 

Ninth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

The  fourth  factor  with  which  modern  Christian  service  must 
deal  is  the  new  personal  equipment  of  educated  folk.  Wide-  C 
spread  popular  education  is  a  comparatively  new  thing  in 
Christendom.  Not  until  1832  did  England  recognize  any 
national  responsibility  for  popular  education  or  impose  on 
parents  any  legal  constraint  to  see  that  their  children  were 
taught.  Sixty-five  years  ago  in  the  United  States  it  was  still 
an  open  question  whether  state-supported  education  was  wise. 
We  are  dealing  now  with  a  problem  which  no  previous  ages 
ever  faced:  a  large  majority  of  the  people  possessed  of  the 
privileges  and  powers  of  education.  And  we  face  in  conse- 
quence the  peril  which  Froude  described,  "Where  all  are 
selfish,  the  sage  is  no  better  than  the  fool,  and  only  rather 
more  dangerous."  We  face  the  tragedy  of  unguided  and 
undedicated  personal  ability.  We  face  the  opportunity  of 
harnessing  to  the  cause  of  service  a  mass  and  force  of 
trained  skill  such  as  the  world  never  before  had  at  its 
disposal. 

Let  not  sin  therefore  reign  in  your  mortal  body,  that 
ye  should  obey  the  lusts  thereof:  neither  present  your 
members  unto  sin  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness; 
but  present  yourselves  unto  God,  as  alive  from  the  dead, 
and  your  members  as  instruments  of  righteousness  unto 
God. — Rom.  6: 12,  13. 

Thou  knowest,  O  heavenly  Father,  the  duties  that  lie  before 
me  this  day,  the  dangers  that  may  confront  me,  the  sins  that 
most  beset  me.  Guide  me,  strengthen  me,  protect  me. 

Give  me  Thy  life  in  such  abundance  that  I  may  this  day 
hold  my  soul  in  Thy  pure  light.  Give  me  Thy  power,  that  I 
may  become  a  power  for  righteousness  among  my  fellows. 
Give  me  Thy  love,  that  all  lesser  things  may  have  no  attrac- 
tion for  me;  that  selfishness,  impurity,  and  falseness  may 
drop  away  as  dead  desires,  holding  no  meaning  for  me.  Let 
me  find  Thy  power,  Thy  love,  Thy  life,  in  all  mankind,  and 
in  the  secret  places  of  my  own  soul.  Amen. — "A  Book  of 
Prayers  for  Students." 


[IX-;]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Ninth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

Such,  then,  is  a  modern  Christian  servant.  He  knows  that 
the  Master  would  serve  all  the  needs  of  men,  with  all  the  re- 
sources available.  He  is  challenged  to  new  forms  of  minisr 
try  by  the  new  powers  conferred  by  science,  the  new  contacts 
which  make  all  people  one  in  interest,  the  new  wealth  at  the 
world's  disposal,  and  the  new  equipment  of  trained  personal 
ability.  Finally,  into  all  these  he  tries  to  pour  the  old  spirit 
of  self-renouncing  love. 

Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  yet  to  have  laid  hold:  but 
one  thing  I  do,  forgetting  the  things  which  are  behind, 
and  stretching  forward  to  the  things  which  are  before,  I 
press  on  toward  the  goal  unto  the  prize  of  the  high  calling 
of  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Let  us  therefore,  as  many  as 
are  perfect,  be  thus  minded:  and  if  in  anything  ye  are 
otherwise  minded,  this  also  shall  God  reveal  unto  you: 
only,  whereunto  we  have  attained,  by  that  same  rule  let 
us  walk. 

Brethren,  be  ye  imitators  together  of  me,  and  mark 
them  that  so  walk  even  as  ye  have  us  for  an  ensample. 
For  many  walk,  of  whom  I  told  you  often,  and  now  tell 
you  even  weeping,  that  they  are  the  enemies  of  the  cross 
of  Christ:  whose  end  is  perdition,  whose  god  is  the  belly, 
and  whose  glory  is  in  their  shame,  who  mind  earthly 
things. — Phil.  3:  13-19. 

So  Paul  presses  forward  in  service,  and  at  the  same  time 
•harks  back  to  the  Cross  of  Christ,  to  the  love  which  it  reveals 
and  to  the  self-sacrifice  which  it  demands.  Laurence  Oliphant 
has  said  that  our  great  need  is  a  "spiritually  minded  man  of 
the  world."  Have  we  not  this  week  been  pleading  for  such  a 
'character?'  Alive  to  the  needs  of  his  time  and  the  move- 
ments of  his  generation,  as  keen  as  the  Athenians  not  to  miss 
any  new  thing  worth  knowing,  seeking  ever  for  more  efficient 
methods,  as  canny  and  alert  in  s'ervice  as  a  merchant  keeping 
pace  with  the  requirements  of  business,  and  through  it  all 
shedding  the  radiance  of  that  eternal  spirit  of  love,  most 
ancient  yet  ever  new,  which  shone  in  the  Master's  ministry — 
may  we  all  be  such  spiritually  minded  men  of  the  world! 

O  God,  the  Enlightener  of  men,  who  of  all  graces  givest 
the  most  abundant  blessing  upon  heavenly  love;  we  beseech 
Thee  to  cleanse  us  from  selfishness,  and  grant  us,  for  Thy 
love,  so  to  love  our  brethren  that  we  may  be  Thy  children 

152 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-c] 

upon  earth;  and  thereby,  walking  in  Thy  Truth,  attain  to 
Thy  unspeakable  joy,  who  art  the  Giver  of  life  to  all  who 
truly  love  Thee.  Grant  this  prayer,  O  Lord,  for  Jesus  Christ's 
sake.  Amen. — Rowland  Williams. 

COMMENT    FOR   THE    WEEK 


While  the  spirit  of  unselfishness  remains  constant  through 
passing  generations,  the  forms  of  its  expression  continually 
change.  One  of  the  most  fatal  enemies  of  effective  service, 
therefore,  is  the  belated  mind,  which  while  it  feels  unselfishly 
has  not  caught  up  with  new  ways  in  which  efficient  usefulness 
must  work.  Many  people  of  sincere  good  will  are  spoiled  in 
their  service  because  they  are  behind  the  times ;  they  lack 
intelligent  grasp  on  present  human  needs  and  on  present 
means  available  for  meeting  them.  To  pole  a  neighbor's 
stranded  rowboat  off  a  shoal  is  useful  service ;  but  to  try  to 
pole  an  ocean  liner  off  a  reef,  while  the  effort  may  reveal  the 
same  good  intention,  is  distinctly  not  useful.  A  modern  ocean 
liner  cannot  be  gotten  off  a  reef  that  way,  and  no  amount  of 
willingness  to  help  can  make  up  for  lack  of  knowledge  as  to 
how  it  should  be  done. 

This  peril  of  a  belated  mind  to  efficiency  of  service  is  I 
grounded  in  the  deeper  truth,  that  much  of  man's  most  ruinous 
sin  consists  in  being  behind  the  times.  It  is  a  most  disturb- 
ing fact  that  God  is  not  dead  but  alive.  We  love  to  settle 
down  in  customary  ways ;  we  put  our  minds  to  bed  and  tuck 
them  in.  But  the  forward  moving  purposes  of  the  living  God 
are  forever  disturbing  our  repose  and  forcing  us  to  move. 
Humanity  settled  down  on  a  flat  and  stationary  earth,  with 
the  vault  of  heaven  a  few  miles  above,  and  to  that  cosmology 
scaled  all  its  thinking,  but  of  a  sudden  the  flat  earth  rounded 
out  into  a  sphere  and  went  spinning  through  space.  God 
tipped  the  minds  of  all  the  world  out  of  bed  that  day  and 
cried  "Move  on!"  Humanity  settled  down  in  a  universe 
large  in  space  but  limited  in  time,  created  by  fiat  a  few  thou- 
sand years  before  Christ,  but  of  a  sudden  the  years  gave  way 
to  aeons  and  men  saw  the  long  leisureliness  of  the  Eternal 
unfolding  a  growing  world.  God  tumbled  the  minds  of  men 
out  of  their  beds  that  day  and  forced  a  forward  march. 

What  the  living  God  does  with  our  minds  he  does  with  our 

153 


[IX-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

morals.  Polygamy  once  was  practiced  by  the  Hebrew  patri- 
archs whose  names  still  are  precious  in  our  memory.  Paul's 
phrase  about  idolatry  is  true  of  polygamy  as  well :  "The  times 
of  this  ignorance  God  winked  at"  (Acts  17:30).  Bat  neither 
God  nor  man  winks  at  polygamy  now,  and  those  who  live  as 
the  Hebrew  patriarchs  did  are  put  in  jail.  Slavery  was  taken 
for  granted  in  the  ancient  world ;  without  a  word  against  it 
as  an  institution,  the  Bible  in  law,  precept,  and  parable,  assumes 
its  presence.  But  the  day  came  when  God  commanded  all  men 
everywhere  to  repent  of  it.  Under  old  aristocracy,  commercial 
monopolies  given  by  royal  grant  to  individuals  and  families 
were  accounted  most  sacred  property,  desecration  of  which 
was  robbery,  but  now  what  once  was  an  hereditary  right 
would  be  looked  upon  as  scandalous  graft.  Drunkenness  once 
was  taken  for  granted,  and  with  no  diminution  of  public  stand- 
ing or  personal  respect  was  practiced  by  laymen  and  clergymen 
alike.  But  now  neither  God  nor  man  allows  it  any  more. 
A  thousand  things  once  thought  to  be  right  men  now  repent 
of  in  dust  and  ashes.  What  God  once  seemed  to  condone, 
we  now  know  that  he  condemns. 

In  wide  areas  of  its  worst  exhibition,  therefore,  sin  means 
living  in  the  present  age  upon  the  ideals  and  standards  of 
an  age  gone  by.  "It  was  said  unto  you  of  old  time,"  the 
Master  repeatedly  insists,  "but  I  say  unto  you."  The  com- 
mandments which  thus  he  supersedes  are  not  precepts  obvi- 
ously bad;  they  are  allowances  of  conduct  that  in  the  times  of 
men's  ignorance  God  winked  at.  "Thou  shalt  not  kill,"  as  a 
sufficient  law  of  brotherliness ;  "Thou  shalt  not  commit  adul- 
tery," as  a  sufficient  law  of  purity ;  "Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  and  hate  thine  enemy,"  as  a  sufficient  law  of  mercy ; 
"An  eye  for  an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth,"  as  a  sufficient 
law  of  justice — these  old  standards  and  ideals,  now  over- 
passed, Jesus  discards.  One  way  to  be  a  sinner  in  his  eyes 
is  to  live  in  his  new  day  as  though  the  old  day  still  were 
here.  Everywhere  in  the  New  Testament  the  characteristic 
sinners  are  men  who  thus  refused  to  go  forward  with  Jesus' 
living  truth,  who  refused  to  move  on  with  Paul's  universal 
Gospel.  They  were  men  of  the  closed  mind  and  the  backward 
look.  How  many  folk  there  are  who  deserve  Proudhon's 
comment  on  Metternich!  "If  he  had  been  present  when  God 
began  to  bring  order  out  of  chaos,  Metternich  would  have 
prayed  fervently,  'O  God,  preserve  chaos !' "  The  pith  and 

154 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-cJ 

marrow  of  such  sin  is  this:  men  lack  the  insight  to  perceive 
and  the  willingness  to  follozv  the  forward  movement  of  the 
living  God. 

The  practical  consequence  is  clear.  If,  being  in  fact  a 
member  of  a  moving  humanity  with  a  living  God,  a  man  acts 
as  though  he  were  a  member  of  a  stationary  humanity  with  a 
dead  God,  he  inevitably  falls  out  of  the  forward  march  of 
man's  moral  life.  What  else  were  the  atrocities  of  the  late 
war?  The  burning  of  Louvain  was  shameful.  Yet  consider 
this  story  from  Joshua :  "Joshua  drew  not  back  his  hand  .  .  . 
until  he  had  utterly  destroyed  all  the  inhabitants  of  Ai.  .  .  . 
Behold  the  smoke  of  the  city  ascended  up  to  heaven  and  they 
had  no  power  to  flee  this  way  or  that  way.  ...  So  Joshua 
burnt  Ai,  and  made  it  a  heap  forever,  even  a  desolation" 
(Josh.  8:26,  20).  The  needless  destruction  of  the  fruit  trees 
of  France  aroused  universal  indignation.  Consider  then  this 
Old  Testament  record :  "They  beat  down  the  cities  .  .  .  they 
stopped  all  the  fountains  of  water,  and  felled  all  the  good 
trees ;  until  in  Kir-hareseth  only  they  left  the  stones  thereof" 
(II  Kings  3:25).  Personal  atrocities  seemed  intolerably  bar- 
barous. Yet  listen  to  this  story  of  David :  "He  brought  forth 
the  people  that  were  therein,  and  put  them  under  saws,  and 
under  harrows  of  iron  and  under  axes  of  iron,  and  made  them 
pass  through  the  brickkiln ;  and  thus  did  he  unto  all  the  cities 
of  the  children  of  Ammon"  (II  Sam.  12:31).  How  horrible 
was  deliberate  cruelty  to  enemy  children !  Yet  the  Hebrew 
psalmist  sings :  "Happy  shall  he  be,  that  taketh  and  dasheth 
thy  little  ones  against  the  rock"  (Psalm  137:9).  If,  then, 
we  indignantly  protest  against  the  atrocious  conduct  of  men 
in  modern  war,  it  is  because  this  is  twenty  centuries  after 
Christ.  Conduct  which  once  was  thought  to  be  divinely  al- 
lowed, we  now  know  to  be  intolerably  cruel  and  devilish. 

So  does  the  living  God  continually  force  new  truths  and  new 
ideals  upon  his  children.     As  General  Booth  remarked,  "You  j 
can  keep  company  with  God  only  by  running  at  full  speed."  i 
Being  up  to  date  too  often  means  cheap  compliance  with  a 
passing  fad.    It  even  means  refusal  to  obey  truths  that  being 
old  are  ever  new,  because  they  never  fail.    But  the  perversions 
of  so  important  a  matter  as  being  abreast  of  the  times  ought 
never    to    cause   a    Christian    to    surrender    the   virtue    of    it. 
Imagine  a  soldier  in  the  trenches  who  at  zero  hour  decides 
not  to  stir.     The   forward  movement  has  begun  but  he  sits 

155 


[IX-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

still.  Is  it,  then,  so  heinous  a  deed  merely  to  sit  still?  They 
shoot  men  for  that.  So  one  who  stays  where  he  is  when 
the  living  God  has  ordered  an  advance  falls  under  the  con- 
demnation of  the  New  Testament.  The  New  Testament 
throbs  with  new  truths,  new  hopes,  new  enterprises,  and  it 
called  men  to  its  cause  who  had  eyes  to  see  and  courage  to 
follow  unblazed  trails.  The  true  successors  of  the  first 
apostles  have  been  men  of  Livingstone's  spirit:  "I  will  go 
anywhere  provided  it  be  forward." 

II 

What  the  living  God  does  with  our  minds  and  our  morals 
he  does  with  our  methods  of  service.  The  spirit  and  motive 
of  unselfish  living  abide,  but  the  machinery  of  their  expres- 
sion changes.  When  selfishness  fails  to  conquer  a  man's 
generous  sentiments,  it  still  may  spoil  his  usefulness  by  a 
belated  mind.  A  soldier  at  Verdun  with  bow  and  arrows, 
however  brave  he  be,  is  about  as  valuable  as  no  soldier  at  all. 

The  urgency  of  this  fact  is  evident  as  soon  as  one  remem- 
bers the  amazing  new  powers  that  modern  science  has  given 
to  men.  The  gambler,  the  murderer,  the  thief,  and  the  Chris- 
tian alike  have  new  tools  to  work  with,  which  make  old 
methods  as  obsolete  as  winnowing  by  wind.  Science  has  put 
into  the  hands  of  the  race  such  power  as  the  ancient  world 
never  dreamed  of ;  what  the  race  will  do  with  it  is  the  ques- 
tion on  whose  answer  the  hopes  of  human  kind  depend.  The 
one  solution  of  this  crucial  problem  which  can  relieve  the 
race  from  the  certainty  of  ruin  is  that  this  new  power  should 
be  used  for  man's  service,  not  for  man's  destruction. 

How  perilous  the  situation  is  the  last  terrific  years  have 
unmistakably  revealed.  Once  science  was  widely  hailed  as 
the  savior  of  the  world.  It  is  reported,  however,  that  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge,  lecturing  in  his  classroom,  called  the  attention 
of  his  pupils  to  the  fact  that  hitherto  science  has  dealt  largely 
with  molecular  forces,  like  steam  and  electricity,  but  that  now 
science  has  its  finger  tips  upon  atomic  forces,  such  as  radium. 
There  is  enough  atomic  force,  he  said,  in  a  mass  of  matter 
no  larger  than  a  man's  fist  to  lift  the  German  fleet  from  the 
bottom  of  the  sea  and  put  it  on  the  hill  behind  Manchester. 
Then  he  paused  in  his  enthusiasm.  God  forbid,  he  said,  that 
science  now  should  cast  its  harness  over  the  atomic  forces ! 

156 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-c] 

We  are  not  fit  to  handle  them.  Put  such  a  prodigious  power 
into  our  possession  in  our  present  state  and  with  it  we  would 
damn  the  race. 

Such  a  shift  of  emphasis  from  confidence  in  science  to 
deadly  fear  of  it  is  not  unjustified.  Science  has  made  liquid 
fire  and  poison  gas,  the  submarine  and  the  tank.  Science  has 
made  guns  that  at  seventy  miles  can  blast  to  pieces  unde- 
fended towns.  Science  has  threatened  to  use  bacteriology,  at 
first  intended  to  halt  epidemics,  to  cause  them  instead.  Science 
has  made  it  possible  for  a  war  that  started  with  the  crack  of 
an  assassin's  pistol  at  Serajevo  to  spread  over  all  the  world 
and  to  comprehendt  humanity  in  colossal  ruin.  Science  has 
opened  the  door  to  financial  systems  by  which  nations,  waging 
war  to  the  point  of  exhaustion,  can  pledge  the  credit  of  many 
generations  yet  unborn.  Nobel,  the  inventor,  gave  the  world 
dynamite  with  one  hand  and  then  with  the  other  Nobel,  the 
philanthropist,  gave  the  Peace  Prize  to  help  save  the  world 
from  the  appalling  consequence  of  the  use  in  war  of  his 
invention.  The  incident  is  a  true  parable  of  our  situation. 
Modern  science  presents  us  with  a  world  headed  for  perdition 
unless  the  spirit  of  service  can  take  possession  of  the  new 
powers  which  science  has  conferred. 


Ill 

•At  first  this  task  seems  too  immense  to  lay  special  respon- 
sibility upon  the  little  powers  of  ordinary  folk.  But  like  all 
large  tasks  it  is  soon  reduced  to  fractions,  and  every  worker 
for  the  good  of  men  can  handle  part  of  it.  A  serviceable  man 
will  indeed  catch  the  vision  of  a  new  world  in  which  the  in- 
creasing powers  conferred  by  science  are  set  to  useful,  not 
destructive  tasks.  But  he  will  also  catch  the  vision  of  his 
own  life  mastered  by  the  same  spirit.  From  teaching  a  Sunday 
school  class  to  managing  an  industry,  from  tending  children 
in  the  home  to  conducting  a  missionary  enterprise,  he  will  seek 
to  belt  new  knowledge  into  his  usefulness.  He  will  look  on 
inefficiency  as  sin.  He  will  regard  with  the  same  abhorrence 
visited  on  all  iniquity  any  willingness  to  do  a  good  task  in 
less  than  the  best  way.  He  will  hate  with  perfect  hatred  the 
slipshod  spirit — 

"All  along  o'  doin'  things  rather-more-or-less." 
157 


IIX-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

In  home  and  school,  in  church  and  business,  in  court  and 
legislature,  this  is  a  fact  upon  the  recognition  of  which  great 
i  issues  hang :  usefulness  is  not  a  matter  of  heart  alone  but  of 
shead,  not  of  kind  intention  but  of  efficient  skill;  slovenliness 
is  wickedness  and  escapable  ineptitude  is  treachery ;  no  man's 
benevolent  feeling  can  cover  from  condemnation  his  avoid- 
able fumbling  of  a  noble  task.  So  says  the  Book  of  Proverbs : 
"He  that  is  slack  in  his  work  is  brother  to  him  that  is  a 
destroyer." 

One  subtle  temptation  continually  assails  all  Christian  serv- 
ice. Folks  suppose  that  the  good  will  which  motives  it  and 
the  good  ends  for  which  it  works  will  somehow  assure  its 
victory.  The  children  of  light,  as  Jesus  said,  are  tempted  to 
be  less  wise  in  their  generation  than  the  children  of  darkness. 
Outworn  methods  that  we  would  scorn  in  business  we  employ 
in  church.  We  use  the  aptest  tools,  the  latest  knowledge  to 
make  money ;  we  give  it  away  with  spasmodic  carelessness, 
as  though  it  were  not  one  of  life's  most  difficult  tasks  to  give 
money  wisely  to  the  help  of  need.  We  know  efficiency  is  neces- 
sary in  self-seeking ;  we  often  act  as  though  service  were  so 
beautiful  in  spirit  that  efficiency  could  be  dispensed  with.  But 
God  is  no  friend  of  fools.  We  can  no  more  successfully  serve 
him  with  obsolete  ecclesiastical  machinery  and  methods  long 
outgrown  than  we  can  carry  on  modern  commerce  with  dugout 
canoes  or  clothe  the  world  from  family  spinning  wheels.  We 
can  no  more  heal  the  sick  and  feed  the  hungry  by  institutions 
appropriate  to  our  grandfathers'  tasks  than  we  could  use  ox- 
carts for  locomotives. 

Neighborly  alms  were  sufficient  in  the  simple  life  of  a 
Palestinian  village.  But  he  who  now  restricts  his  ministry  to 
the  poor  of  a  modern  city  to  such  haphazard  giving  as  may  be 
called  out  by  his  personal  discovery  of  need,  is  behind  the 
times.  Organized  philanthropy  is  indispensable  and  system- 
atic support  of  it  is  a  duty.  To  visit  the  sick  and  minister  to 
their  healing  was  a  sufficient  expression  of  Christian  good 
will  at  first,  but  a  man  without  imagination  to  see  the  neces- 
sity of  hospitals  and  boards  of  health  and  education  in  hygiene 
in  modern  society  has  a  belated  mind.  To  be  friendly  with 
fellow-workmen  and  apprentices  in  a  home  shop  was  adequate 
brotherliness  in  days  before  our  modern  factories  came.  But 
HOW  that  employers  and  employes  do  not  know  each  other, 
often  have  never  met  each  other,  live  far  apart  from  each 

158 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-c] 

other  in  sympathy  and  circumstances,  and  bitterness  grows 
rampant  out  of  the  sundered  brotherhood,  one  who  does  not 
see  the  necessity  of  establishing  on  a  wide  scale  new  methods 
of  democratic  cooperation  in  industry  has  a  mind  like  Rip 
Van  Winkle's,  a  generation  behind  the  times.  Sectarian  Prot- 
estantism was  once  the  servant  of  liberty  and  men  worked 
through  it  for  great  gains,  but  he  who  does  not  see  now  the 
necessity  for  cooperation  and  unity  among  Christians,  in  the 
face  of  the  world's  present  needs  and  tasks,  belongs  to  a  past 
age  and  is  alive  after  his  time.  Kindly  feeling  alone  cannot 
gird  a  modern  man  for  usefulness.  Alert  and  disciplined  in- 
telligence is  indispensable  to  the  largest  service.  To  desire  to 
do  good  is  positively  dangerous  unless  one  knows  what  it  is 
good  to  do. 

No  one  of  us  can  escape  the  application  of  this  truth  to  his 
own  service  in  any  realm,  however  limited.  To  "take"  a 
Sunday  school  class  is  one  thing,  to  teach  it  is  another.  To 
give  money  is  one  thing,  to  help  people  by  giving  it  is  another. 
To  have  friends  is  one  thing,  to  be  a  master  of  effective 
friendliness  is  another.  To  be  a  father  or  mother,  intrusted 
with  a  child,  is  one  thing,  to  be  fit  to  be  one  is  another.  In 
particular,  however,  our  truth  is  a  challenge  to  all  men  and 
women  to  whom  God  has  given  special  gifts  of  leadership. 
Blessings  forever  on  that  youth,  endowed  with  an  alert  and 
able  mind,  who  uses  his  skill  to  guide  bewildered  folk,  eager 
to  serve  but  not  knowing  how,  into  wise  uses  of  some  new 
power  that  mankind  possesses ! 

If  mankind's  intelligence  is  once  deliberately  set  to  this  task 
of  using  the  powers  of  the  new  era  for  serviceable  ends,  the 
vistas  are  as  bright  with  hope  as  otherwise  they  are  dark 
with  dread.  Men  thought  the  age  of  miracles  had  passed,  but 
through  the  knowledge  of  law  a  greater  age  is  here.  Possibil- 
ities that  to  older  generations  seemed  Utopian  now  are  prac- 
ticable hopes :  humanity  can  be  saved  from  illiteracy  and 
poverty,  war  can  be  abolished,  industry  can  be  democratized, 
and  physical  and  moral  scourges  that  have  afflicted  the  race 
through  all  its  history  can  be  eliminated.  Yellow  fever  for 
ages  has  been  the  bane  and  dread  of  men.  Today  the  five 
localities  on  the  planet  where  yellow  fever  breeds  have  been 
plotted  out  and  now  are  being  stalked  by  scientists  as  a  hunter 
stalks  his  game.  Surgeon-General  Gorgas  said  that  in  the  end 
we  could  make  the  yellow  fever  germ  as  obsolete  as  the  woolly 

159 


[IX-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

rhinoceros.  Hookworm  has  been  sapping  the  vigor,  destroy- 
ing the  ambition,  ruining  the  characters  and  homes  of  men  for 
generations.  It  is  a  secret,  insidious,  debilitating  disease, 
whose  consequence  is  listlessness  of  mind,  body,  and  spirit. 
One  agency  took  up  the  problem ;  found  a  simple  and  absolute 
remedy ;  proved  its  case  in  experimental  localities ;  and  today 
the  leading  nations  of  the  world  are  cooperatively  attacking 
and  in  time  can  completely  overcome  an  evil  that  now  makes 
a  belt  of  needless  feebleness  around  the  world.  Famines, 
periodic  and  overwhelming,  concerning  which  no  attitude 
seemed  possible  save  pious  resignation,  now  are  known  to  be 
utterly  needless.  Engineering  can  reclaim  useless  lands  by 
irrigation;  chemistry  can  save  useless  soil  by  fertilization; 
scientific  agriculture  can  multiply  output;  means  of  communi- 
cation can  make  one  country's  products  available  everywhere 
on  earth. 

Nor  are  the  new  agencies  less  useful  to  the  higher  ranges 
of  man's  life.  Better  education  more  widely  given,  better 
philanthropy  more  effectively  administered,  better  govern- 
ment more  ably  managed,  better  churches  more  splendidly 
useful — such  things  are  within  the  grasp  of  our  hands  if  we 
will  take  them.  *  And  as  for  the  world-wide  Christian  cause, 
Mr.  J.  Brierly  was  right :  "George  Stephenson  had  as  little  to 
do  as  most  men  with  theology.  But  his  railway  locomotive  in 
making  the  evangelist  free,  on  easy  terms  with  the  whole 
world,  has  enlarged  the  religious  frontier  more  than  the  united 
labors  of  shiploads  of  D.D.'s." 

"The  moral  equivalent  of  war"  has  been  sought  for  as 
though  it  were  difficult  to  find.  Surely  not  only  the  moral 
equivalent  of  any  supposed  benefit  of  war,  but  the  moral 
cure  of  war's  undoubted  horrors  and  spiritual  debaucheries 
is  at  hand.  To  discover  and  harness  for  useful  tasks  the 
immense  powers  of  our  world,  to  build  here  in  the  face  of 
appalling  obstacles  a  decent  home  for  the  family  of  God,  is 
the  most  arousing  task  that  mankind  ever  faced.  If  mankind 
will  but  face  it  in  genuine  earnest,  the  stimulus  of  war  will 
not  be  missed. 

When  that  leading  figure  in  American  philanthropy,  Samuel 
Gridley  Howe,  left  the  army  of  Greece  where  he  had  fought 
for  Greek  independence  and  threw  himself  into  a  lifelong 
war  against  the  hardships  that  oppressed  the  blind  and  the 
insane,  he  did  not  cease  to  be  a  "Sir  Galahad  and  Good  Samar- 

160 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-c] 

itan"  combined.     It  was  this  last  fight  that  made  Whittier 
sing  of  him : 

"Knight  of  a  better  era, 
Without  reproach  or  fear, 
Said   I   not  well   that   Bayards 
And  Sidneys  still  are  here?" 

IV 

In  one  special  realm  the  perils  of  a  belated  mind  can  be 
clearly  illustrated.  Consider  the  financial  responsibilities 
which  in  an  early  American  settlement  a  Christian  might  be 
expected  to  assume !  They  were  few  and  simple.  To  support 
his  family,  to  pay  taxes,  to  contribute  to  the  local  church,  to 
help  his  neighbors  in  their  need — whoever  did  these  well  was 
a  good  Christian  and  a  generous  man.  If  famine  raged  in 
India,  he  did  not  hear  of  it.  If  Turks  massacred  Armenians, 
no  rumor  of  it  reached  his  ears.  Or  if  at  last  the  news  did 
come,  of  what  benefit  was  that?  No  railroads,  no  steamship 
lines,  no  cables,  no  world-wide  credit  system  that  makes  money 
fly  faster  than  the  wind,  were  at  his  service.  No  possibility 
of  world-wide  helpfulness  was  open  to  him,  no  responsibility 
for  extensive  generosity  rested  on  him. 

How  many  who  call  themselves  Christians  live  in  this  new 
day  as  though  the  old  day  still  were  here !  They,  too,  support 
their  families,  pay  taxes,  contribute  to  the  local  church,  and 
on  occasion  give  to  the  neediest  cases  in  their  town.  That  is 
the  limit  of  their  financial  output.  In  this  modern  world  they 
are  anachronisms.  They  are  as  out  of  date  as  horse-cars  on 
New  York  City's  streets.  At  least  a  century  has  passed  over 
their  heads  without  their  knowing  it.  For  one  of  the  miracles 
of  our  age  is  the  power  it  puts  into  the  hands  of  a  man  with 
a  few  dollars  to  join  himself  with  other  men  who  have  a  few 
dollars,  and  within  a  few  hours  to  put  the  pooled  resources 
of  all  at  work  anywhere  on  earth  from  the  center  of  China  to 
the  heart  of  the  Congo.  One  marvel  of  this  new  era  is  the 
romance  of  stewardship. 

When  an  appeal  for  money  is  made  in  church  or  town  or 
nation,  it  commonly  is  regarded  as  a  necessity  to  be  endured 
or  a  nuisance  to  be  avoided.  Nor  is  there  any  wonder  that 
such  distaste  is  associated  with  financial  campaigns,  when  one 
considers  the  frequent  tone  of  their  appeal.  You  ought  to 
give;  you  ought  to  be  generous;  it  is  your  duty — how  com- 

161 


[IX-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

monly  are  we  assailed  by  such  injunctions!  Yet  modern  op- 
portunities for  money's  use  are  more  marvelous  and  enticing 
than  "Arabian  Nights"  and  more  romantic  than  the  folklore 
of  any  people.  A  Christian  missionary,  Armenian  by  birth. 
American  by  education,  was  slain  by  the  Kurds  on  his  sick- 
bed in  the  presence  of  his  wife.  His  family  escaped.  Once, 
no  matter  how  dearly  his  American  friends  had  loved  him, 
no  matter  how  ardently  they  had  wished  for  his  sake  to  help 
his  children,  they  could  have  done  nothing.  But  in  this 
marvelous  era  they  at  once  reduce  a  little  of  themselves  to 
monetary  form,  the  most  portable  shape  into  which  human 
personality  can  precipitate  itself,  and  in  that  form  they  go 
straightway  overseas  to  Persia  and  bring  back  their  friend's 
wife  and  children  to  a  safe  home  and  a  liberal  education. 
One  who  can  see  in  such  an  opportunity  nothing  but  duty  is 
blind.  Who  would  not  love  to  play  with  this  new  white  magic 
by  which  a  man  can  put  himself  at  work  around  the  world? 

Once  in  an  isolated  settlement  of  the  old  world  of  slow 
communications,  a  man  could  hear  of  cruel  need  in  the  anti- 
podes and  could  go  home  with  nothing  but  sympathy  to 
offer.  Let  no  man  in  this  modern  world  express  sympathy 
with  any  need  anywhere  on  earth  unless  he  means  it!  The 
acid  test  can  straightway  be  applied.  For  we  can  do  some- 
thing, no  matter  where  the  need  may  be.  The  agencies  of 
.human  helpfulness  now  reach  in  an  encompassing  network 
over  all  the  earth.  The  avenues  are  open  down  which  our 
pennies,  our  dollars,  or  our  millions  can  walk  together  in  an 
accumulating  multitude  to  the  succor  of  all  mankind.  Each 
of  us  can  take  some  of  his  own  nerve  and  sinew  reduced  in 
wages  to  the  form  of  money,  and  through  money,  which  is  a 
naturalized  citizen  of  all  lands  and  which  speaks  all  languages, 
can  be  at  work  wherever  the  sun  shines.  It  is  a  privilege 
which  no  one  knew  before  our  modern  age.  It  is  one  of  the 
miracles  of  science,  mastered  by  the  spirit  of  service,  that  a 
man  busy  at  his  daily  tasks  at  home  can  yet  be  preaching 
the  Gospel  in  Alaska,  healing  the  sick  in  Korea,  teaching  in 
the  schools  of  Persia,  feeding  the  hungry  in  India,  and  build- 
ing a  new  civilization  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Nile.  Con- 
sider, then,  the  shame  of  one  who  in  such  an  era  is  still  a 
spiritual  inhabitant  of  an  age  gone  by !  Only  a  man  who  with 
generous,  systematic  stewardship  is  taking  advantage  of  the 
new  opportunities  is  fully  abreast  of  his  times. 

162 


NEW  FORMS  OF  SERVICE  [IX-c] 

What  is  true  of  opportunity  for  financial  service  is  true  of 
many  new  agencies  for  usefulness  which  the  modern  world 
has  given^us.  Once  our  fathers  living  under  absolutism  could 
not  control  at  all  the  processes  of  government ;  now  a  demo- 
cratic state  offers  new  chances  of  usefulness  through  citizen- 
ship and  new  obligations  to  employ  them  well.  Once  our 
fathers,  never  having  dreamed  of  such  an  invention  as  movable 
type,  had  neither  chance  nor  responsibility  to  use  the  printed 
page;  now  the  printing  press  offers  a  supremely  powerful 
agency  of  education  and  evangelization.  Once  nations,  lacking 
all  vital  contacts  with  one  another,  could  become  international 
neither  in  their  spirit  nor  in  their  political  arrangements ; 
now  nations  are  woven  by  countless  vital  relationships  into 
each  other's  lives  and  these  accumulating  contacts  offer  the 
supreme  opportunity  of  all  history  to  bring  in  the  day  of  inter- 
national cooperation.  On  every  side  new  powers  and  new 
possibilities  are  put  into  our  hands.  The  best  hopes  of  man- 
kind cannot  be  realized  save  as  these  new  powers  are  con- 
verted, baptized,  Christianized,  and  harnessed  for  ministry 
to  human  weal.  A  belated  mind,  therefore,  is  fatal  to  large 
usefulness : 

"New  occasions  teach  new  duties ;  Time  makes  ancient  good 
uncouth ; 

They  must  upward  still,  and  onward,  who  would  keep  abreast 
of  Truth; 

Lo,  before  us  gleam  her  camp-fires !  we  ourselves  must  Pil- 
grims be, 

Launch  our  Mayflower,  and  steer  boldly  through  the  des- 
perate winter  sea, 

Nor  attempt  the  Future's  portal  with  the  Past's  blood- 
rusted  key." 


163 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Great  Obstacle 

DAILY    READINGS 

We  are  to  consider  this  week  the  difficulties  which  the 
Christian  spirit  of  service  faces  when  it  encounters  the  eco- 
nomic motives  and  practices  common  in  industry  and  com- 
merce. There  is  a  strange  prejudice  in  some  quarters  that 
Christianity  ought  not  to  concern  itself  with  economic  ques- 
tions at  all.  One  would  suppose  that  any  system  of  faith  and 
conduct,  if.  it  is  to  be  good  for  anything,  must  concern  itself 
with  the  most  absorbing  portion  of  man's  life,  his  toil  for 
sustenance.  It  certainly  is  clear  that  Jesus  had  more  to  say 
about  money,  its  making  and  its  spending,  its  perils  and  its 
uses,  than  about  any  other  subject  whatsoever.  Let  us  inquire, 
therefore,  in  our  daily  readings,  what  the  enormous  stakes 
are  which  Christianity  has  in  the  economic  problem. 

Tenth  Week,  First  Day 

But  they  that  are  minded  to  be  rich  fall  into  a  tempta- 
tion and  a  snare  and  many  foolish  and  hurtful  lusts,  such 
as  drown  men  in  destruction  and  perdition.  For  the  love 
of  money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil:  which  some  reach- 
ing after  have  been  led  astray  from  the  faith,  and  have 
pierced  themselves  through  with  many  sorrows. 

But  thou,  O  man  of  God,  flee  these  things;  and  follow 
after  righteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love,  patience,  meek- 
ness.— I  Tim.  6:9-11. 

No  one  would  deny  that  Christianity  is  chiefly  interested 
in  the  conquest  of  sin.  But  sin  does  not  exist  in  general,  it 
exists  in  concrete,  particular  forms,  and  when  one  traces  to 
their  origin  the  iniquities  that  are  most  familiarly  ruinous, 
one  discovers  how  correctly  this  passage  from  First  Timothy 
locates  their  source.  "The  master  iniquities  of  our  time,"  says 
Professor  E.  A.  Ross,  "are  connected  with  money-making." 

164 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-2] 

It  is  futile,  therefore,  for  the  Christian  individual  or  the 
Christian  Church  to  deal  in  general  with  a  vague,  diffused, 
undefined  idea  of  sin,  while  all  the  time  the  concrete  sins  of 
the  economic  life  are  ruining  men.  And  it  is  also  futile  to 
attack  the  merely  personal  transgressions  of  equity  in  business 
and  avoid  dealing  with  the  organization  of  business  itself 
which  so  often  is  the  occasion  of  them.  Consider  this  pas- 
sage from  St.  Augustine's  "City  of  God": 

"That  was  an  apt  and  true  reply  which  was  given  to  Alex- 
ander the  Great  by  a  pirate  whom  he  seized.  For  when  that 
King  had  asked  the  man  how  he  durst  so  molest  the  sea,  he 
answered  with  bold  pride :  'How  darest  thou  molest  the  whole 
world  ?  But  because  I  do  it  with  a  little  ship  I  .am  called  a 
robber,  whilst  thou  who  dost  it  with  a  great  fleet  art  styled 
Emperor.'  " 

Surely  the  Christian  cannot  so  lend  himself  to  discrimination 
against  minor  economic  sins  in  favor  of  great  ones.  Whoever 
sets  himself  seriously  to  be  a  Christian  and  to  labor  for  a 
Christian  world,  therefore,  must  deal  with  the  economic  prob-. 
lem,  in  both  its  individual  and  social  aspects. 

O  Thou,  whose  commandment  is  life  eternal,  we  confess 
tJrjt  ivc  have  broken  Thy  Law,  in  that  we  have  sought  our 
oii'n  gain  and  good  rather  than  Thy  gracious  Will,  who  wiliest 
good  unto  all  men.  We  have  sinned  by  class  injustice,  by  in- 
difference to  the  sufferings  of  the  poor,  by  want  of  patriotism, 
by  hypocrisy  and  secret  self-seeking.  But  do  Thou  in  Thy 
mercy  hear  us.  Turn  Thou  our  hearts  that  we  may  truly 
repent,  and  utterly  abhor  the  great  and  manifold  evils  which 
our  sins  have  brought  upon  the  nation.  Break  down  our  idols 
•of  pride  and  wealth.  Shatter  our  self-love.  Open  our  eyes  to 
know  in  daily  life,  in  public  work,  that  Thou  alone  art  God. 
Thee  only  let  us  ^vorship,  Thee  only  let  us  serve,  for  His  sake, 
it'ho  sought  not  His  own  will  but  Thine  alone. — M.  P.  G.  E. 

Tenth  Week,  Second  Day 

Come  now,  ye  rich,  weep  and  howl  for  your  miseries  that 
are  coming  upon  you.  Your  riches  are  corrupted,  and 
your  garments  are  moth-eaten.  Your  gold  and  your  silver 
are  rusted;  and  their  rust  shall  be  for  a  testimony  against 
you,  and  shall  eat  your  flesh  as  fire.  Ye  have  laid  up  your 
treasure  in  the  last  days.  Behold,  the  hire  of  the  laborers 
who  mowed  your  fields,  which  is  of  you  kept  back  by 

165 


[X-2]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

fraud,  crieth  out:  and  the  cries  of  them  that  reaped  have 
entered  into  the  ears  of  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth.  Ye  have 
lived  delicately  on  the  earth,  and  taken  your  pleasure;  ye 
have  nourished  your  hearts  in  a  day  of  slaughter. — James 
5:i-5. 

One  has  only  to  read  such  passages  as  Matt.  19:24,  Luke 
6 :  24,  Luke  12 : 15  f,  Luke  16 :  13  f,  to  see  that  James,  the  brother 
of  our  Lord,  was  true  to  the  tradition  which  Jesus  left,  when 
he  spoke  these  words.  One  reason  why  the  Christian  cannot 
avoid  the  economic  application  of  the  Gospel  is  because  he  is 
sincerely  interested  in  character ;  and  wealth,  acquired  as  it 
often  is,  is  ruinous  to  the  characters  of  those*  who  win  it.  Two 
per  cent  of  the  people  in  the  United  States  own  sixty  per 
cent  of  the  wealth.  If  by  the  poor  we  mean  those  whose  pos- 
session consists  only  of  clothing,  furniture,  and  personal  be- 
longings to  the  value  of  $400  each,  then  one  man  in  the  United 
States  owns  as  much  as  2,500,000  of  his  fellow-citizens.  That 
is  perilous  to  the  commonwealth ;  but  it  is  also  perilous  to  the 
rich.  When  we  see  a  wealthy  man,  who,  honorably  fortunate, 
is  as  simple  in  his  life  and  as  sensitive  in  his  conscience  as 
when  he  was  a  boy,  as  amiable,  approachable,  democratic, 
fraternal,  and  generous  as  when  his  business  life  began,  we 
have  seen  one  of  the  most  difficult  and  admirable  spiritual 
victories  that  a  man  can  win.  But  consider  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  vivid  and  precise  description  of  the  other  type, 
which  James  also  had  in  mind. 

"There  are  men  of  wealth  in  New  York,  honored,  because 
prosperous,  who  heap  up  riches,  and  hoard  them,  and  live  in  a 
magnificent  selfishness.  They  use  the  whole  of  society  as  a 
cluster  to  be  squeezed  into  their  cup.  They  are  neither  active 
in  any  enterprise  of  good,  except  for  their  own  prosperity, 
nor  generous  to  their  fellows.  They  build  palaces,  and  fill 
them  sumptuously ;  but  the  poor  starve  and  freeze  around 
about  them.  No  struggling  creature  of  the  army  of  the  weak 
ever  blesses  them.  And  yet  their  names  are  heralded.  They 
walk  in  specious  and  spectacular  honor.  Men  natter  them, 
and  fawn  upon  them.  Dying,  the  newspapers,  like  so  many 
trumpets  in  procession,  go  blaring  after  them  to  that  grave 
over  which  should  be  inscribed  the  text  of  Scripture,  'The 
name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot.' " 

We  pray  for  our  land.  Let  us  not  be  left  unrich  in  man- 
hood. Destroy  our  ships;  destroy  our  dwellings;  but  grant 
that  poverty  may  not  come  upon  manhood  in  this  nation. 

166 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-a] 

Raise  up  nobler  men — men  that  shall  scorn  bribes;  men  that 
shall  not  run  greedily  to  ambition;  men  that  shall  not  be  de- 
voured by  selfishness;  men  that  shall  fear  God  and-love  man; 
men  that  shall  love  this  nation  with  a  pure  and  disinterested 
love.  And  so  we  beseech  of  Thee  that  our  peace  may  stand 
firm  upon  integrity,  and  that  righteousness  may  everywhere 
prevail.  Amen. — Henry  Ward  Beecher. 

Tenth  Week,  Third  Day 

Thus  saith  Jehovah:  For  three  transgressions  of  Israel, 
yea,  for  four,  I  will  not  turn  away  the  punishment  thereof; 
because  they  have  sold  the  righteous  for  silver,  and  the 
needy  for  a  pair  of  shoes — they  that  pant  after  the  dust 
of  the  earth  on  the  head  of  the  poor,  and  turn  aside  the 
way  of  the  meek:  and  a  man  and  his  father  go  unto  the 
same  maiden,  to  profane  my  holy  name:  and  they  lay 
themselves  down  beside  every  altar  upon  clothes  taken  in 
pledge;  and  in  the  house  of  their  God  they  drink  the  wine 
of  such  as  have  been  fined. — Amos  2 :  6-8. 

Jehovah  will  enter  into  judgment  with  the  elders  of  his 
people,  and  the  princes  thereof:  It  is  ye  that  have  eaten 
up  the  vineyard;  the  spoil  of  the  poor  is  in  your  houses: 
what  mean  ye  that  ye  crush  my  people,  and  grind  the 
face  of  the  poor?  saith  the  Lord,  Jehovah  of  hosts. — 
Isa.  3:14,  15. 

The  people  of  the  land  have  used  oppression,  and  exer- 
cised robbery;  yea,  they  have  vexed  the  poor  and  needy, 
and  have  oppressed  the  sojourner  wrongfully.  —  Ezek. 
22 : 29. 

How  can  one  say  that  the  prophets  of  God  were  not  deal- 
ing with  their  business  when  they  were  dealing  with  the  prob- 
lem of  poverty?  Poverty  is  not  alone  a  matter  of  dollars; 
it  translates  itself  into  sickness,  ruined  family  life,  wayward 
and  untended  children,  cramped  opportunity,  blasted  charac- 
ter. Consider  the  portentous  meaning  in  terms  of  human  life 
of  such  simple  facts  as  these:  in  Chicago,  in  1914,  one  person 
in  every  twenty-eight  was  given  relief ;  of  every  ten  persons 
who  die  in  New  York  City,  one  is  buried  at  public  expense  in 
the  Potter's  Field ;  upward  of  thirty  per  cent  of  the  city  and 
town  population  in  England  live  in  extreme  poverty ;  some 
10,000,000  people  in  the  United  States  are  habitually  below  the 
poverty  line.  Add  also  the  fact  that  in  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States  the  cases  of  destitution  due  to  misfortune 

167 


[X-4]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

outnumber  two  to  one  the  cases  due  to  misconduct.1  Can  the 
Church  pass  by  on  the  other  side  of  such  a  situation  ?  Can 
the  Church  content  itself  with  giving  alms  to  alleviate  poverty 
when  the  conditions  which  cause  it  are  still  at  work?  Theo- 

!dore  Roosevelt  once  said :  "This  country  will  not  be  a  good 
place  for  any  of  us  to  live  in  unless  we  make  it  a  good  place 
•for  all  of  us  to  live  in." 

We  pray  for  our  own  Nation,  and  for  all  whom  we  our- 
selves have  set  in  authority,  and  for  all  true  social  reformers 
therein,  that  crying  evils  may  be  abolished,  and  that  peace  and 
happiness,  truth  and  justice,  true  religion  and  piety  may  be 
established  in  the  land  for  all  generations. — W.  B.  Graham. 

Tenth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

Whence  come  wars  and  whence  come  fightings  among 
you?  come  they  not  hence,  even  of  your  pleasures  that  war 
in  your  members?  Ye  lust,  and  have  not:  ye  kill,  and 
covet,  and  cannot  obtain:  ye  fight  and  war;  ye  have  not, 
because  ye  ask  not.  Ye  ask,  and  receive  not,  because  ye 
ask  amiss,  that  ye  may  spend  it  in  your  pleasures. — 
James  4:  1-3. 

Surely  there  is  no  more  central  interest  in  Christianity 
than  the  winning  of  human  life  to  the  principle  of  love  and 
brotherhood.  How,  then,  can  the  Christian  avoid  the  eco- 
nomic problem?  For  the  seams  and  cracks  and  open  rup- 
tures that  rend  class  from  class  today,  and  plunge  us  into 
endless  turmoil  and  fratricidal  strife,  all  run  along  economic 
lines.  James  is  right  when  he  ascribes  wars  and  fightings  to 
covetousness.  The  very  crux  of  the  whole  problem  of  fra- 
ternal living  lies  not  in  home  and  church  and  neighborhood 
but  in  the  class-conscious  strife  of  employers  and  employes, 
in  the  rivalry  of  competitive  industry,  in  the  avarice  of  nations 
for  economic  advantage.  To  talk  of  brotherhood  without 
reference  to  these  crucial  questions  is  to  beat  the  air.  Must 
not  the  Church,  then,  take  to  heart  such  words  as  these  from 
Bishop  Gore?  "This  is  the  first  great  claim  that  we  make 
upon  the  Church  today;  that  it  should  make  a  tremendous 
act  of  penitence  for  having  failed  so  long  and  on  so  wide  a 
scale  to  behave  as  the  champion  of  the  oppressed  and  the 
weak ;  for  having  tolerated  what  it  ought  not  to  have  tol- 

1  Warner,  "American  Charities,"  revised  edition,  1908,  pp.  50-53. 

168 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-s) 

crated;  for  having  so  often  been  on  the  wrong  side.  And 
the  penitence  must  lead  to  reparation  while  there  is  yet  time, 
ere  the  well-merited  judgments  of  God  take  all  weapons  of 
social  influence  out  of  our  hands." 

O  God,  the  Father,  Origin  of  Divinity,  good  beyond  all  that 
is  good,  fair  beyond  all  that  is  fair,  in  whom  is  calmness, 
peace,  and  concord;  do  Thou  make  up  the  dissensions  which 
divide  us  from  each  other,  and  bring  us  back  into  an  unity  of 
love,  which  may  bear  some  likeness  to  Thy  sublime  Nature. 
Amen. — Jacobite  Liturgy  of  St.  Dionysius. 

Tenth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

My  brethren,  hold  not  the  faith  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  Lord  of  glory,  with  respect  of  persons.  For  if  there 
come  into  your  synagogue  a  man  with  a  gold  ring,  in 
fine  clothing,  and  there  come  in  also  a  poor  man  in  vile 
clothing;  and  ye  have  regard  to  him  that  weareth  the  fine 
clothing,  and  say,  Sit  thou  here  in  a  good  place ;  and  ye 
say  to  the  poor  man,  Stand  thou  there,  or  sit  under  my 
footstool;  do  ye  not  make  distinctions  among  yourselves, 
and  become  judges  with  evil  thoughts?  Hearken,  my  be- 
loved brethren;  did  not  God  choose  them  that  are  poor 
as  to  the  world  to  be  rich  in  faith,  and  heirs  of  the  king- 
dom which  he  promised  to  them  that  love  him?  But  ye 
have  dishonored  the  poor  man.  Do  not  the  rich  oppress 
you,  and  themselves  drag  you  before  the  judgment-seats? 
Do  not  they  blaspheme  the  honorable  name  by  which  ye 
are  called?  Howbeit  if  ye  fulfil  the  royal  law,  according 
to  the  scripture,  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself, 
ye  do  well:  but  if  ye  have  respect  of  persons,  ye  commit 
sin,  being  convicted  by  the  law  as  transgressors. — James 
2:  1-9. 

With  all  the  failures  of  which  organized  Christianity  has 
been  guilty,  something  of  this  accent  of  human  equality  before 
God  has  been  retained.  Where  today  do  we  find  the  acutest 
economic  unrest?  In  the  non-Christian  world?  Rather  in 
Christendom,  and  often  in  those  very  parts  of  Christendom 
where  widespread  privilege  has  been  greatest.  Our  economic 
restlessness  does  not  come  because  conditions  are  worse,  but 
because,  in  general,  they  are  better.  We  cannot  educate  the 
people,  build  schools,  erect  libraries,  print  newspapers,  and 
make  as  widespread  as  possible  the  gains  of  civilization  with- 
out awakening  such  ambition  for  more  education,  more  com- 

169 


[X-6]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

fort,  more  leisure,  more  equality,  in  the  whole  mass  of  the 
people  as  never  stirred  men  in  history  before.  Edwin  Mark- 
ham's  "Man  with  a  Hoe"  causes  no  industrial  unrest. 

"Bowed  by  the  weight  of  centuries  he  leans 
Upon  his  hoe  and  gazes  on  the  ground, 
The  emptiness  of  ages  in  his  face, 
And  on  his  back  the  burden  of  the  world." 

But  awaken  in  his  sluggish,  sullen  breast  even  the  dim  sus- 
picion that  seeds  are  slumbering  there  which,  sunned  by  fairer 
economic  opportunity,  would  blossom  into  education,  privi- 
lege, comfort,  equality,  and  power  for  him  and  for  his  children, 
and  then  industrial  unrest  will  come.  Spencer  was  right : 
"The  more  things  improve,  the  louder  become  the  exclama- 
tions about  their  badness."  Our  very  economic  problem, 
therefore,  is  in  large  part  the  child  of  Christianity's  desire 
and  hope.  It  springs  from  just  such  vehement  champion- 
ship of  the  poor  as  the  Lord's  brother  felt.  And  multitudes 
of  Christian  business  men  share  that  spirit  and  are  trying  to 
work  it  out  in  industry  and  commerce.  Christianity  cannot 
evade  her  responsibility.  The  problem  which  she  helped  to 
create,  she  must  help  to  solve. 

Merciful  Father,  to  whom  all  sons  of  men  are  dear,  we 
pray  for  all  that  sit  in  darkness  and  in  the  shado^v  of  death, 
that  the  Day  spring  from  on  high  may  visit  them;  for  the 
poor  and  oppressed,  for  those  that  dwell  amid  ugliness  and 
squalor,  far  from  loveliness  and  purity,  and  for  whom  the 
fire-gemmed  heavens  shine  in  vain;  for  those  who  toil  beyond 
their  strength  and  beyond  Thine  ordinance,  without  pleasure 
in  the  work  of  their  hands,  and  zvithout  hope  of  rest;  for 
those  who  sink  back  to  the  beast,  and  seek  to  drown  all 
thought  and  feeling,  and  for  all  who  are  trampled  under  foot 
by  men.  Raise  up  deliverance  for  the  peoples.  Amen. — "A 
Book  of  Prayers  for  Students." 

Tenth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

Ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth:  but  if  the  salt  have  lost  its 
savor,  wherewith  shall  it  be  salted?  it  is  thenceforth  good 
for  nothing,  but  to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of 
men.  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world.  A  city  set  on  a  hill 
cannot  be  hid.  Neither  do  men  light  a  lamp,  and  put  it 
under  the  bushel,  but  on  the  stand;  and  it  shineth  unto  all 

170 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-;] 

that  are  in  the  house.  Even  so  let  your  light  shine  before 
men;  that  they  may  see  your  good  works,  and  glorify 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven. — Matt.  5:  13-16. 

These  words,  usually  applied  to  individuals,  have  today  an 
unmistakable  application  to  Christendom  as  a  whole.  Is  she 
letting  her  light  shine  that  the  non-Christian  world  may  see 
her  good  works  ?  Rather  the  whole  program  of  foreign  mis- 
sions is  inextricably  tied  up  with  the  present  economic  and 
international  situation  in  Christendom,  and  our  evil  deeds 
often  speak  louder  than  any  words  our  missionaries  can  say. 
The  Church's  stake  in  the  economic  question  is  immediate 
and  vital.  The  most  critical  point  in  her  missionary  program 
lies  here :  the  non-Christian  world  suspects  our  civilization 
of  colossal  failure  and  has  reason  to.  The  barriers  are  all 
down.  Calcutta  and  Pekin  know  us  through  and  through  ; 
the  islands  of  the  sea  understand  our  miserable  failure  to 
be  brotherly  in  business  and  in  statecraft.  So  an  Oriental 
speaks :  "You  wonder  why  Christianity  makes  such  slow 
progress  among  us.  I  will  tell  you  why.  It  is  because  you 
are  not  like  your  Christ."  Until  we  can  make  brotherhood 
work  in  industry  and  international  relations  we  leave  a  great 
barrier  across  the  path  of  all  the  heralds  of  the  Cross. 

We  beseech  Thee  to  hear  us,  O  God,  for  all  who  profess 
and  call  themselves  Christians,  that  they  may  be  led  to  the 
right  understanding  and  practice  of  their  holy  faith;  for  all 
zvho  preach  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ;  for  all  missionaries, 
evangelists,  and  teachers,  and  for  all  who  are  seeking  and 
striving  in  other  ways  to  bless  their  fellows,  and  to  build  up 
the  Kingdom  of  God  in  the  world,  that  they  may  be  steadfast 
and  faithful,  and  that  their  labour  may  not  be  in  vain;  through 
Jesus  Christ  Thy  Son  our  Lord.  Amen. — John  Hunter. 

Tenth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

After  this  manner  therefore  pray  ye:  Our  Father  who 
art  in  heaven,  Hallowed  be  thy  name.  Thy  kingdom  come. 
Thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on  earth.  Give  us  this 
day  our  daily  bread.  And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  also 
have  forgiven  our  debtors.  And  bring  us  not  into  temp- 
tation, but  deliver  us  from  the  evil  one. — Matt.  6:9-13. 

How  often  we  say  that  prayer  without  praying  it !  At  its 
very  beginning  the  Master  put  the  dominant  desire  of  his  life 

171 


[X-7]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

— the  Kingdom.  And  he  defined  what  he  meant — no  super- 
human realm  of  disembodied  spirits,  but  God's  will  done  here 
on  earth.  But  that  transformed  earth  cannot  come  without 
changes.  To  save  the  world  without  altering  it  is  absurd. 
Wherever  Christianity  goes,  it  transforms  conditions ;  it 
becomes  in  any  land  where  its  disciples  carry  it  a  "standard 
of  revolution."  Would  anybody  expect  polygamy,  human  sac- 
rifice, infanticide,  cannibalism,  to  persist  where  Christian 
missions  go?  How  then  can  conditions  at  home  which  hurt 
the  children  of  God  be  tamely  allowed,  undisturbed  by  the 
antagonism  of  the  Christian  people?  Christianity  denies  its 
oitm  nature  when  it  keeps  its  hands  off  any  situation  which 
cripples  personality. 

Such  is  the  stake  which  Christianity  has  in  the  economic 
question.  The  sins  it  fights  are  often  born  of  the  economic 
struggle ;  the  characters  it  tries  to  save  are  often  spoiled  by 
excessive  wealth  or  crushed  by  excessive  poverty ;  the  brother- 
hood it  endeavors  to  further  is  prevented  by  economic  strife; 
the  very  industrial  unrest  which  must  be  dealt  with,  Chris- 
tianity itself  somehow  helped  to  cause ;  its  world-wide  evangel 
is  hampered  by  our  lamentable  economic  chaos ;  and  the  hope 
of  the  Kingdom  is  a  perpetual  challenge  to  discpntent  with 
conditions  which  deny  it. 

We  beseech  of  Thee  that  Thou  wilt  forgive  us  our  selfish- 
ness, and  our  pride,  and  our  sordidness,  and  our  abandonment 
of  things  spiritual,  and  our  inordinate  attachment  to  things 
carnal  and  temporal.  Forgive,  we  beseech  of  Thee,  our  un- 
kindness  one  to  another.  Forgive  us  that  in  honor  we  have 
sought  our  own  selves  first,  and  not  others;  that  we  have  not 
borne  one  another's  burdens,  and  fulfilled  the  law  of  God. 
Forgive  us  that  zve  have  made  ourselves  unlovely  by  our  evil 
carriage.  Forgive  us  that  we  have  failed  to  discharge  those 
obligations  of  love  and  gratitude  which  Thy  sufferings  and 
Thy  death  and  Thy  resurrection  have  laid  every  one  of  us 
under.  Open  the  way  of  the  future  for  us,  that  we  may  walk 
zvithout  stumbling;  that  we  may  live  with  a  higher  purpose 
and  better  accomplishment ;  that  we  may  not  only  be  forgiven 
for  past  sin,  but  be  cured  of  sin,  and  of  those  infirmities  out 
of  which  so  many  transgressions  spring.  Amen. — Henry 
Ward  Beecher. 


172 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

COMMENT    FOR   THE   WEEK 

I 

The  giving  of  money  clearly  is  involved  in  effective  modern 
service,  but  the  making  of  money  is  even  more  closely  inter- 
laced with  the  problem  of  a  serviceable  life.  In  what  sharp 
contrast  with  our  acquisitive  spirit  in  business,  where  men 
compete  for  profit  and  where  one's  success  so  often  means 
another's  failure,  does  our  talk  of  service  stand !  We  are 
told  to  love  each  other,  to  desire  each  the  other's  good  as 
though  it  were  his  own,  to  let  sympathy,  magnanimity,  generos- 
ity, control  our  thought  and  conduct.  Then  we  go  out  into 
the  scramble  of  our  commercial  life.  Just  how  can  the  ideal 
of  service  be  naturalized  in  so  alien  a  land  as  this  industrial 
system  of  competing  individuals,  corporations,  economic 
groups,  and  greedy  nations,  all  struggling  for  profit? 

Two  Christians  may  meet  in  brotherly  love  in  family  and 
neighborhood  and  wish  each  other  every  good.  But  if  one 
opens  a  grocery  in  their  little  town  next  door  to  the  grocery 
which  the  other  long  has  kept,  how  shall  they  pray  for  each- 
other  when  each  man's  gain  means  the  other's  loss?  "O 
God" — will  the  older  merchant  pray? — "bless  his  business; 
give  him  customers ;  open  the  hearts  of  our  citizens  more  and 
more  to  desire  his  wares ;  may  each  year  enlarge  his  bound- 
aries and  increase  his  patrons  and  his  profits !"  One  sus- 
pects that  if  Saint  Francis  of  Assisi  himself,  instead  of  leav- 
ing the  world  to  be  a  monk,  had  been  a  grocer — a  much  more 
difficult  enterprise — he  could  not  with  earnest  zeal  have  prayed 
like  that.  "Thou  shalt  not  covet,"  sounds  well  in  the  abstract, 
but  it  becomes  perplexing  when  one  adds,  "Thou  shalt  not 
covet  thy  neighbor's  customers." 

From  so  simple  a  situation  through  the  whole  melee  of  our 
industrial  life,  how  much  of  our  business  is  a  constant  and 
terrific  temptation  to  selfishness !  Men  are  tempted  to  hire 
laborers  as  cheaply  as  possible,  regardless  of  the  living  con- 
ditions imposed  by  the  wages  paid,  and  laborers  are  tempted 
to  give  as  slack  work  as  they  can  manage  for  as  large  pay. as 
they  can  get.  Men  are  tempted  to  sell  goods  as  dearly  as 
possible,  regardless  of  families  thrust  below  the  poverty  line 
by  the  increasing  cost  of  life's  necessities.  "I  think  it  is 
fair  to  get  out  of  the  consumers  all  you  can,  consistent  with 
the  business  proposition" — so  testified  the  head  of  a  great 

173 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

American  corporation  supplying  an  article  of  food  without 
which  men  cannot  live.  Men  are  tempted  to  knead  chalk, 
alum,  and  plaster  into  bread,  to  make  children's  candy  with 
terra  alba,  to  put  cocaine  into  popular  drinks  and  chloroform 
into  children's  remedies,  to  preserve  milk  with  formalin,  and 
to  sell  dried  peas  and  cocoa  shells  for  coffee.  And  they  do 
it,  so  that  in  1906  before  the  Pure  Food  Bill  was  passed  the 
American  Secretary  of  Agriculture  reported  that  thirty  per 
cent  of  all  money  paid  for  food  in  the  United  States  was  paid 
for  adulterated  and  misbranded  goods. 

What  appalling  selfishness  is  engendered  by  our  competi- 
tive struggle  after  profits!  For  money's  sake  men  defraud 
the  poor,  so  that  in  a  single  three  months  in  New  York  City 
3,906  falsely  adjusted  scales  and  measures  were  confiscated  by 
inspectors.  For  money's  sake  men  make  life-preservers  that 
will  not  float ;  they  maintain  hovels  at  high  rentals  to  the  ruin 
of  human  life;  they  practice  jerry-building  to  the  jeopardy  of 
all  subsequent  occupants;  they  fill  our  business  life  with 
petty  pilfering  and  small  graft;  they  gamble  in  securities  in 
an  organized  endeavor  to  get  something  for  nothing ;  they 
make  journalism  yellow  with  tales  of  crime  and  appeals  to 
sex;  they  take  profiteering  advantage  of  war  and  coin  into 
cash  the  bloody  sacrifices  of  the  world's  best  youth ;  they  play 
on  the  appetite  for  drugs  and  stimulants  and  make  commer- 
cial gain  from  the  purposed  degradation  of  manhood ;  they 
traffic  in  the  bodies  of  women;  they  prostitute  the  drama  to 
ignoble  uses  and  seek  eagerly  for  plays  that,  as  a  producer 
recently  declared  with  appalling  candor,  "appeal  from  the 
waist  down."  The  meanest,  most  cynical  and  unscrupulous 
selfishness  that  stops  at  no  cruelty  and  that  feels  no  shame  is 
the  fruit  of  the  economic  struggle.  The  New  Testament  is 
right:  "The  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil" 
(I  Tim.  6:  10). 

We  have  spoken  in  these  studies  of  sacrificial  conflicts 
against  inveterate  abuses,  such  as  political  absolutism,  legal 
monopolies,  slave  systems,  the  liquor  traffic.  What,  then,  is 
the  sinister  power  which  has  made  these  conflicts  for  a  better 
world  so  difficult  and  has  made  so  laggard  and  uncertain  the 
final  victory?  Always  the  selfishness  of  vested  interests  has 
stood  across  the  path  of  progress.  In  New  York  City  a 
northern  merchant  called  out  Mr.  May,  the  philanthropist, 
from  an  antislavery  meeting  and  said  to  him :  "Mr.  May, 

174 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-cj 

we  are  not  such  fools  as  not  to  know  that  slavery  is  a  great 
evil ;  a  great  wrong.  But  it  was  consented  to  by  the  founders 
of  our  Republic.  It  was  provided  for  in  the  Constitution  of 
our  Union.  A  great  portion  of  the  property  of  the  South- 
erners is  invested  under  its  sanction ;  and  the  business  of  the 
North,  as  well  as  the  South,  has  become  adjusted  to  it.  There 
are  millions  upon  millions  of  dollars  due  from  Southerners 
to  the  merchants  and  mechanics  of  this  city  alone,  the  payment 
of  which  would  be  jeopardized  by  any  rupture  between  the 
North  and  the  South.  We  cannot  afford,  sir,  to  let  you  and 
your  associates  succeed  in  your  endeavor  to  overthrow  slavery. 
It  is  not  a  matter  of  principle  with  us.  It  is  a  matter  of 
business  necessity.  We  cannot  afford  to  let  you  succeed. 
I  have  called  you  out  to  let  you  know,  and  to  let  your 
fellow-laborers  know,  that  we  do  not  mean  to  allow  you  to 
succeed.  We  mean,  sir,"  he  said,  with  increased  emphasis — 
"we  mean,  sir,  to  put  you  Abolitionists  down — by  fair  means 
if  we  can,  by  foul  means  if  we  must." 

When  the  interests  of  property  have  been  imperiled  by 
humane  reforms,  that  tone  of  voice  has  been  one  of  the  most 
familiar  sounds  in  history.  Why  do  so  many  children  still 
work  in  the  shops  and  factories  of  rich  America?  Why  is  it 
so  bitterly  difficult  to  pass  legislation  for  their  relief,  or  to 
assure  safety  appliances  in  factories,  or  to  gain  decent  con- 
ditions for  women  in  industry?  What  was  the  organized 
source  of  power  that  for  years  bribed  legislators,  bought  up 
electorates,  debauched  the  judiciary,  and  exhausted  every  sin- 
ister method  known  to  human  ingenuity  to  stave  off  all  en- 
croachments on  the  liquor  traffic's  exploitation  of  the  people? 
Macaulay  said  that  if  the  multiplication  table  had  interfered 
with  any  vested  interests,  some  people  would  not  have  believed 
it  yet. 

Nor  is  this  hardness  and  selfishness  of  our  economic 
struggle  altogether  a  matter  of  personal  ill  will.  Men  of 
generous  good  will  are  caught  in  it,  and  do  not  know  how 
to  extricate  themselves.  How  can  a  merchant  easily  pay  high 
wages  and  give  shorter  hours  to  the  girls  who  serve  him, 
when  his  rival  pays  low  wages  and  works  his  laborers  long 
hours?  How  can  a  manufacturer  in  one  stated  welcome  leg- 
islation that  saddles  him  with  the  expense  of  safety  appli- 
ances, shorter  hours,  and  high  wages,  when  in  a  neighboring 
state  his  rivals  are  under  no  restrictions?  Just  what  shall 

175 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

an  honest  and  serviceable  business  do  when  it  is  held  up  by 
a  legislature  with  ruinous  bills  plainly  intended  for  blackmail? 
What  shall  an  employer  do  if,  when  wages  increase,  shiftless 
laborers  work  only  half  as  many  days  and  live  as  they  did 
before?  What  shall  laborers  do  if,  working  faithfully,  they 
find  themselves  out  of  employment  half  the  year?  Whether 
he  be  employer  or  employe,  the  most  colossal  difficulty  which 
many  a  man  faces  when  he  sets  himself  to  live  unselfishly,  is 
presented  by  the  ingrained  selfishness  of  the  economic 
struggle. 

II 

All  this,  in  principle,  is  familiar  to  anyone  who  knows  the 
gospels.  The  preeminent  enemy  which  the  Master  faced  as 
he  proclaimed  his  evangel  of  good  will  was  Mammon.  He, 
too,  saw  rich  young  men  not  far  from  the  Kingdom,  held 
back  from  whole-hearted  service  by  the  love  of  money  (Mark 
10 :  17  f).  He,  too,  saw  Dives  lulled  into  selfish  indolence  by 
great  possessions  (Luke  i6:ipf);  saw  brotherhood  cut 
asunder  by  covetous  desires  (Luke  12:  13  f)  ;  saw  able  busi- 
ness men  absorbing  all  their  energies  in  heaping  wealth  on 
wealth  in  ever  enlarging  barns  (Luke  12:  16  f)  ;  saw  grafters 
even  in  the  temple  courts  (Mark  n  :  15).  He,  too,  found  his 
message  met  by  the  sneers  of  "Pharisees,  who  were  lovers  of 
money"  (Luke  16:  14),  and  in  the  circle  of  his  friends  he  was 
betrayed  by  a  man  with  an  itching  palm. 

The  Master  was  not  the  sponsor  of  any  economic  theory. 
No  social  panacea  may  rightly  claim  the  sanction  of  his  name. 
But  he  was  the  teacher  and  exemplar  of  the  spirit  of  serv- 
ice, and  he  found  in  the  economic  struggle  for  money  his 
chief  antagonist.  He  wanted  men  to  possess  the  heavenly 
treasures  of  the  Spirit,  and  they  sought  with  absorbed  con- 
cern treasures  where  moth  and  rust  corrupt  and  thieves  break 
through  and  steal  (Matt.  6:19).  He  sowed  the  seed  of  the 
Gospel,  looking  for  fruitage  in  serviceable  lives,  and  the 
"deceitfulness  of  riches"  choked  it  (Matt.  13:22).  He  saw 
life  as  a  marvelously  rich  experience,  but  his  passion  to 
share  his  life  with  others  was  balked  in  those  who  sordidly 
thought  that  their  lives  consisted  in  the  abundance  of  the 
things  which  they  possessed  (Luke  12:15).  Everywhere  he 
found  the  issue  joined  between  economic  acquisitiveness  and 
useful  living,  and  he  stated  the  issue  in  clear-cut,  uncom- 
-  176 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

promising  words :  "No  servant  can  serve  two  masters :  for 
either  he  will  hate  the  one  and  love  the  other ;  or  else  he  will 
hold  to  one,  and  despise  the  other.  Ye  cannot  serve  God  and 
mammon"  (Luke  16:  13). 

The  situation  since  the  Master's  day  has  not  in  essence 
greatly  changed.  What  tragedies  today  befall  the  characters 
of  our  young  men  and  women !  Youth  is  naturally  idealistic ; 
it  responds  to  the  appeal  of  chivalry ;  if  rightly  trained,  it 
feels  the  lure  of  knighthood  and  desires  to  ride  abroad  redress- 
ing human  wrongs.  With  such  a  spirit  of  service  our  best 
youth  go  out  from  our  schools  and  colleges,  and  the  saddest 
sight  that  eyes  can  see  is  their  gradual  disillusionment,  their 
loss  of  knightly  thoughts,  their  subjugation  to  mercenary 
motives,  and  at  last  in  how  many  cases  the  utter  triumph  in 
them  of  sordid  ambitions ! 

Many  of  them  long  maintain  the  struggle  between  the  ideals 
of  sacrificial  usefulness  and  the  actualities  of  business.  They 
live  a  bifurcated  life.  They  read  the  Master's  teaching  with 
an  approval  which  they  cannot  deny ;  they  see  in  the  economic 
conflict  necessities  which  they  cannot  evade;  and  the  two  do 
not  agree.  Finally,  however,  the  balance  dips  one  way  or  the 
other.  Some  deliberately  throw  over  the  Christian  ethic  and 
become  confessedly  selfish ;  some  consciously  apply  one  set 
of  ideals  to  home  and  friends,  to  church  and  neighborhood, 
and  another  to  business,  changing  gear  between  the  two,  and 
losing  all  unity  and  wholeness  from  their  lives ;  some 
become  morally  blinded  by  the  continual  impact  of  the  eco- 
nomic struggle,  until  they  seriously  think  that  our  merciless 
competitive  conflict  after  profits  is  not  unchristian  in  the  least. 
The  last  estate  is  the  most  hopeless.  So  Bishop  Gore  cries : 
"What  I  am  complaining  of  is — not  that  commercial  and 
social  selfishness  exists  in  the  world,  or  even  that  it  appears 
to  dominate  in  society ;  but  that  its  profound  antagonism  to 
the  spirit  of  Christ  is  not  recognized — that  there  is  not  among 
us  anything  that  can  be  called  an  adequate  conception  of  what 
Christian  morality  means." 

Ill 

In  his  relationship  with  the  making  of  money,  therefore, 
lies  for  many  a  man  the  nub  of  the  problem  of  a  serviceable 
life.  Let  it  be  frankly  said  that  the  problem  is  fundamentally 
social ;  that  no  man  alone  can  satisfactorily  solve  it  in  his  own 

177 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

life  until  society  as  a  whole  makes  economic  relationships 
more  decent  than  they  are.  In  the  meantime,  however,  some 
obvious  duties  are  enjoined  upon  the  individual  by  Chris- 
tian principles.  ( 

For  one  thing,  let  a  man  take  both  his  investments  and  his 
personal  zvork  away  from  any  business  that  in  its  main  inten- 
tion is  not  useful  to  the  community!  That  business  and  serv- 
ice ever  should  conflict  is  the  more  pathetic,  because  the  basic 
idea  of  all  good  business  is  to  serve  the  people.  A  fair  bar- 
gain is  far  better  than  charity,  for  charity  involves  one  man 
in  want  served  by  a  superior,  while  a  fair  bargain  involves 
two  men  on  an  equality,  the  exchange  of  whose  goods  is  a 
mutual  benefit.  So  Ruskin,  summing  up  the  functions  of  the 
five  great  intellectual  professions  which  have  existed  in  every 
civilized  country,  says :  "The  Soldier's  profession  is  to  defend 
it;  the  Pastor's  to  teach  it;  the  Physician's  to  keep  it  in 
health;  the  Lawyer's  to  enforce  justice  in  it;  the  Merchant's 
to  provide  for  it."  Service  is  the  primary  intention  of  com- 
merce. And  the  tragedy  of  our  economic  conflict  lies  here : 
the  very  purpose  of  business  is  perverted  when  service  which 
should  be  first  is  put  last  or  is  lost  sight  of  altogether.  In 
war  we  have  seen  how  indispensable  to  the  common  weal  are 
farm  and  shop  and  factory,  railroad  and  steamship  line ;  in 
war  we  appealed  for  industrial  help  not  alone  to  avarice  but 
to  loyalty,  not  alone  to  greed  but  to  patriotism.  Has  that 
appeal  no  standing  ground  in  time  of  peace?  What  traitors 
are  in  an  army,  what  hypocrites  are  in  the  ministry,  what 
shysters  are  in  the  law,  what  quacks  are  in  medicine — per- 
versions and  caricatures  of  their  profession's  main  intention 
— so  are  men  in  business  who  have  lost  sight  of  their  function 
as  loyal  servants  of  the  common  weal  in  providing  for  the 
,  needs  of  men.  The  first  duty  of  a  Christian,  therefore,  is  to 
desert,  with  his  money  and  his  labor,  any  parasitic,  useless 
business,  any  traffic  that  seeks  something  for  nothing,  or  that 
makes  profit  from  demoralizing  men.  A  Christian  must  at 
least  be  conscious  that  he  is  in  a  business  upon  whose  pres- 
ence in  some  form  the  happy  maintenance  of  human  society 
depends. 

Again,  a  Christian  must  never  in  any  business  be  a  consent- 
ing party  to  the  sacrifice  of  manhood  and  womanhood  for 
profit.  When  Ruskin  had  exalted  the  five  professions,  with 
the  merchant  as  the  climax  of  them  all,  he  turned  to  define 

178 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

their  obligation  to  society :  "The  duty  of  all  these  men  is,  on 
due  occasion,  to  die  for  it.  'On  due  occasion'  namely :  the 
Soldier,  rather  than  leave  his  post  in  battle ;  the  Physician, 
rather  than  leave  his  post  in  plague ;  the  Pastor,  rather  than 
teach  falsehood;  the  Lawyer,  rather  than  countenance  injus- 
tice; the  Merchant — what  is  his  'due  occasion'  of  death?  It 
is  the  main  question  for  the  Merchant."  That  question  is  not 
difficult  for  a  Christian  to  answer.  The  merchant  should  die 
rather  than  willingly  make  profit  that  involves  the  degrada- 
tion of  manhood  and  womanhood. 

Lord  Shaftesbury,  the  great  Christian  philanthropist,  and 
his  allies  worked  fourteen  years  to  secure  a  ten-hour  bill  in 
England.  How  widely  was  he  helped  by  Christian  business 
men,  who  knew  as  well  as  he  did  that  in  Lancashire  alone,  for 
example,  35,000  children  from  five  to  thirteen  years  of  age 
were  working  fourteen  and  fifteen  hours  a  day  in  the  factories 
to  pile  up  profits  for  them?  Let  Lord  Shaftesbury's  diary 
answer :  "Prepared  as  I  am,  I  am  oftentimes  distressed  and 
puzzled  by  the  strange  contrasts  I  find ;  support  from  infidels 
and  non-professors ;  opposition  or  coldness  from  religionists 
or  declaimers."  "I  find  that  evangelical  religionists  are  not 
those  on  whom  I  can  rely.  The  factory,  and  every  question 
for  what  is  called  'humanity'  receive  as  much  support  from 
the  men  of  the  world  as  from  church  men,  who  say  they  will 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it."  "Last  night  pushed  the  bill 
through  the  committee ;  a  feeble  and  discreditable  opposition ! 
'Sinners'  were  with  me ;  'saints'  were  against  me — strange 
contradiction  in  human  nature."  "The  clergy  here  (Man- 
chester) as  usual  are  cowed  by  capital  and  power.  I  find 
none  who  cry  aloud  and  spare  not;  but  so  it  is  everywhere." 
Such  records  are  the  disgrace  of  the  Church.  No  money  can 
be  so  spent  in  charity  as  to  atone  for  such  a  satanic  spirit  in 
its  making.  A  disciple  of  Jesus  must  be  free  from  such  will- 
ing consent  to  take  profit  out  of  human  degradation.  This 
does  not  mean  that  he  must  throw  away  securities  in  every 
business  whose  policies  he  disapproves ;  it  does  mean  that, 
however  his  private  fortune  may  be  affected,  he  must  by 
every  means  in  his  power  fight  those  policies  and  that  he  must 
always  be  on  the  side  of  any  movement  which  promises  more 
decent  living  to  men  and  women.  To  put  profits  before  per- 
sonality is  the  swiftest  and  completes!  way  of  denying  every- 
thing that  Jesus  ever  said.  Let  a  man  be  a  pagan  and  say  so, 

179 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

if  he  so  chooses;  but  let  him  not  call  himself  a  follower  of 
Jesus,  while  he  forgets  the  spirit  of  Jesus :  "It  were  well  for 
him  if  a  millstone  were  hanged  about  his  neck,  and  he  were 
thrown  into  the  sea,  rather  than  that  he  should  cause  one  of 
these  little  ones  to  stumble"  (Luke  17:2). 

IV 

To  be  engaged  in  a  useful  business  and  to  be  seeking  to 
make  the  processes  of  that  business  contribute  not  to  profits 
alone  but  to  human  welfare,  are  the  simplest  elementals  of 
the  Christian  spirit  in  industry.  The  full  flower  of  even  these 
elemental  qualities,  however,  is  plainly  impossible  without 
putting  the  idea  of  service  at  the  very  center  of  one's  business 
life.  Consider  what  that  would  mean ! 

The  essence  of  selfishness  is  to  face  any  human  relation- 
ship with  the  main  intent  of  seeing  what  can  be  gotten  out  of 
it  for  oneself.  What,  then,  shall  we  say  of  the  common  atti- 
tude toward  business?  That  is  one  human  relationship  which 
multitudes  of  men  confessedly  face  with  the  major  purpose  of 
making  profit  from  it  for  themselves.  Business  as  often  con- 
ceived is  the  driving  of  a  bargain  with  intent  to  win. 

Another  attitude  toward  life,  however,  is  perfectly  familiar, 
and  in  certain  areas  of  human  enterprise  it  is  expected  from 
all  honorable  men.  Schubert  sold  his  priceless  songs  for  ten- 
pence  apiece.  But  he  did  not  write  them  for  tenpence  apiece. 
He  wrote  them  for  the  love  of  music  and  the  joy  and  pride 
of  fine  workmanship.  Milton  sold  "Paradise  Lost"  for  ten 
pounds.  But  he  did  not  write  it  for  ten  pounds.  He  wrote  it 
for  the  easing  of  his  spirit,  for  the  love  of  poetry,  and  the 
delight  of  excellent  craftsmanship.  Such  men  take  pay  for 
work;  but  they  do  not  work  for  pay.  Their  life  is  not  a 
bargain  but  a  vocation ;  it  is  not  a  trade  but  an  art.  They 
would  say  with  a  great  teacher:  "Harvard  University  pays 
me  for  doing  what  I  would  gladly  pay  for  the  privilege  of 
doing  if  I  could  only  afford  it."  They  feel  about  their  chosen 
tasks  what  Stradivari  felt  about  his  violins :  God 

"Could  not  make 
Antonio  Stradivari's  violins 
Without  Antonio." 

No  man's  life  is  fully  redeemed  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus  until 
he  has  come  over  into  this  attitude  toward  his  work.  In  the 

180 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

Master's  figure  he  must  cease  being  a  hireling  working  for 
pay  and  must  become  a  shepherd  with  a  passion  for  service 
(John  10 :  nf).  Note  that  the  shepherd  was  no  musician  or 
poet,  no  teacher,  or  builder  of  exquisite  violins.  He  was  doing 
the  hardest  of  manual  work,  exposed  to  all  weathers,  so 
humble  a  toiler  that  the  scribes  counted  him  outside  the  ortho- 
dox pale,  since  he  could  not  in  his  occupation  keep  all  the  law. 
Yet  this  toiler  is  the  Master's  figure  of  a  man  who  glorifies  his 
life  work  as  a  vocation  and  an  art,  who  puts  the  passion  of 
service  into  it,  who  scorns  to  be  a  hireling  with  his  eye  on  pay- 
day, skimping  his  labor  and  seeking  only  cash.  "You  make 
pretty  good  hammers  here,"  said  a  visitor  to  a  workman  in  a 
factory.  "No,  sir,"  came  the  swift  answer.  "We  make  the 
best  hammers  that  can  be  made."  There  is  a  man  who  has 
caught  the  spirit  of  the  Master's  shepherd.  His  life  is  not  con- 
sumed in  driving  bargains ;  he  has  achieved  the  professional 
attitude ;  he  has  made  a  common  task  into  a  fine  art. 

It  is  evident  that  in  no  realm  whatsoever  is  the  best  work 
ever  done  without  this  spirit.  One  may  write  hack  music  for 
money,  but  when  Handel  in  a  passion  of  tears  and  prayer 
writes  the  Hallelujah  Chorus,  money  is  forgotten.  A  soldier 
may  conceivably  join  the  army  for  pay,  but  when  at  Verdun 
men  endure  for  their  country  what  they  never  would  endure 
for  themselves,  something  more  than  money  has  motived 
them.  Caiaphas  might  well  be  High  Priest  for  pay,  but  the 
Master's  saviorhood  had  no  such  motive.  How  much  money 
do  we  think  would  buy  Luther  to  go  to  Worms ;  or  buy  John 
Knox  to  brave  the  wrath  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots;  or  buy 
Washington  to  endure  the  winter  at  Valley  Forge?  Money 
can  do  some  things;  for  the  sake  of  it  men  have  sometimes 
done  good  work;  often  they  have  done  devilish  work;  but 
for  the  sake  of  it  no  man  ever  did  his  best  work.  Money 
never  manned  a  lifeboat.  Money  never  sent  a  preacher  into 
his  pulpit  with  a  declaration  of  unpopular  but  needed  truth. 
Money  never  gave  us  railroads  or  steamships  or  telephones  or 
telegraphs,  for  even  such  things  could  not  have  come  if  be- 
yond the  love  of  money  had  not  risen  joy  and  pride  in  scien- 
tific workmanship.  Every  discovery  of  new  truth,  every 
advance  in  social  life,  all  basic  industries  introduced  to  supply 
the  needs  of  men,  rest  back  on  lives  that  loved  creative  work 
for  its  own  sake.  Wherever  one  looks,  man's  life  at  its  best 
has  never  been  a  trade.  It  has  been  a  vocation. 

181 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

This  is  the  point  of  crisis  which  separates  the  secular  from 
the  sacred.  When  a  minister  in  a  pulpit  preaches  for  pay,  is 
that  sacred?  It  is  as  secular  a  deed  as  the  sun  shines  on. 
When  a  woman  in  the  home  or  a  man  in  business  puts  into 
daily  life  the  professional  spirit,  facing  the  day's  task  with 
the  major  motive  of  putting  service  in  rather  than  taking 
pay  out,  is  that  secular?  It  is  as  sacred  a  sight  as  God  sees. 
For  there  are  no  secular  things;  there  are  only  secular  people ; 
and  secular  people  work  for  pay.  How  scathing  is  the  com- 
ment that  Gibbon  passes  on  his  tutor,  who  "remembered  that 
he  had  a  salary  to  receive  and  forgot  that  he  had  a  duty  to 
perform."  This  does  not  mean  that  the  economic  motive  is 
unworthy.  It  may  be  one  of  the  most  valuable  weapons  in 
the  human  arsenal.  Paul  says  that  he  who  does  not  provide 
for  his  own  family  is  worse  than  an  infidel  (i  Tim.  5:8). 
But  it  does  mean  that  when  the  economic  motive  becomes  pre- 
dominant, Christian  living  ceases.  However  hard  the  saying 
may  at  first  appear,  one  surely  cannot  read  the  New  Testa- 
ment without  perceiving  that  a  physician  who  cares  more  for 
his  patients'  money  than  for  their  health ;  a  lawyer  who  is 
more  concerned  to  secure  fees  than  to  secure  justice;  a  states- 
man whose  first  love  is  his  purse  and  whose  second  is  good 
government;  a  teacher  who  thinks  of  his  salary  before  he 
thinks  of  his  students ;  a  minister  who  cannot  sincerely  say 
with  Paul,  "I  desire  not  yours  but  you" ;  and  a  business  man 
who  in  his  desire  for  profits  submerges  his  desire  to  serve  the 
public,  are  none  of  them  living  Christian  lives.  The  spirit  of 
service  cannot  be  given  the  freedom  of  all  man's  life  except 
the  quarantined  area  of  his  economic  relationships.  The 
spirit  of  service  must  comprehend  and  permeate  that  also. 
For  this  is  the  central  heresy,  which,  so  long  as  it  maintains 
its  hold,  condemns  our  economic  life  to  be  unchristian,  and 
involves  us  in  industrial  bitterness :  business  is  primarily  a 
means  of  making  wealth  for  individuals.  And  this  is  the 
truth,  whose  recognition  and  enforcement  alone  can  bring 
decency :  business  primarily  is  an  essential  social  service  to 
the  whole  community. 


Under  present  circumstances,  however,  it  is  impossible  to 
expect  the  general  body  of  workers  in  our  industries  to  put 
into  their  tasks  the  spirit  of  joyful  and  creative  labor.  Let  a 

182 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

man  put  himself  in  their  place  and  see.  Workers  on  twelve- 
hour  shifts  seven  days  a  week ;  workers  at  minutely  subdi- 
vided tasks  repeating  a  single  process  ten  hours  a  day  week 
in  week  out;  workers  who  never  rise  above  the  poverty  line 
no  matter  how  hard  they  toil,  but  to  whom  life  is  a  hopeless 
animal  struggle  to  sustain  a  meager  physical  existence — these 
are  at  the  bottom  of  our  economic  conflict.  To  expect  such 
folk  to  put  the  professional  spirit  into  their  work  is  mockery. 

Moreover,  one  fundamental  fact  in  our  present  economic 
situation  is  the  struggle  between  organized  capital  and  or- 
ganized labor,  and  in  consequence  the  dominant  note  in  our 
economic  life  is  not  service*  but  conflict.  Here  is  the  descrip- 
tion of  a  master  tailor's  shop  before  the  modern  machines 
came  in:  "His  shop  was  upstairs  in  his  home.  Half  a  dozen 
journeymen  and  a  couple  of  apprentices  squatted  cross-legged 
on  tables  plying  the  needle.  The  master  worked  with  them 
and  shared  their  talk.  At  noon  all  ate  at  his  table,  and  he  cut 
the  bread  and  served  the  soup  to  them  with  due  respect  to 
seniority.  When  he  said  grace  before  and  after  meat  all 
bowed  their  heads  with  him.  Downstairs  in  a  tiny  store,  like 
a  hall  bedroom,  were  a  few  bolts  of  stuff."  Into  this  system 
of  home  manufacture  came  steam-driven  machines,  and  in 
their  wake  great  factories.  Home  manufacture  was  forced  to 
the  wall.  The  workers,  in  despair  and  hate,  mobbed  the  first 
factories  in  England,  and  before  their  attacks  were  ended  the 
legal  penalty  of  death  was  affixed  for  destroying  a  machine. 
All  production  was  centered  then  in  the  factory  towns ;  no  one 
could  compete  with  them ;  all  power  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
men  to  whom  the  machines  belonged. 

The  years  that  followed  are  among  the  crudest  in  human 
history.  No  one  with  squeamish  sensibilities  easily  can  read  the 
records  of  the  barbarous  oppressions  practiced  on  the  workers 
before  there  was  any  organization  among  them  for  self-pro- 
tection, or  any  laws  to  control  wages,  conditions  of  labor,  or 
hours  of  toil.  It  is  easy  now  to  condemn  the  evils  of  organized 
labor.  But  if  any  group  of  our  employers  could  themselves 
be  put  back  into  such  conditions  as  the  laborers  faced  before 
the  days  of  labor  unions,  the  first  thing  those  employers  would 
do  would  be  to  combine  in  leagues  for  mutual  defense. 

Our  industrial  life,  therefore,  has  fallen  inevitably  into  the 
two-group  system :  organized  capital  and  organized  labor. 
The  old  brotherhood  of  toil  is  broken.  The  employers  and 

183 


[X-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

employes  are  far  apart.  However  much  individuals  may  feel 
good  will,  they  find  themselves  arrayed  against  each"  other  in 
economic  groups  from  which  they  cannot  extricate  themselves. 
Our  industry  has  become  a  tragic  conflict,  in  which  coopera- 
tion is  swamped  in  class  consciousness.  And  so  much  is  human 
nature  alike  under  all  jackets  that  it  is  with  difficulty  that  one 
can  discern  where  the  more  selfishness  lies,  with  capital  or 
with  labor,  when  either  gains  the  power  for  self-aggran- 
dizement. 

In  this  intolerable  situation  only  a  blind  man  can  -  recom- 
mend the  endeavor  to  turn  back  the  clock  to  the  old  days 
before  laborers  were  organized  at  all.  Probably  the  most 
important  movements  now  afoot  in  the  economic  world  are 
experiments  where  employers  and  employes  are  trying  out 
methods  of  democratic  cooperation.  How,  without  impairing 
productiveness  while  the  process  of  change  is  going  on,  can 
recognized  channels  be  established  in  industry,  by  which  the 
whole  body  of  workers  can  have  a  fair  and  satisfying  oppor- 
tunity to  help  determine  the  conditions  under  which-  they  live 
and  work? — that  significant  question  must  find  reply.  A  hope- 
ful fact  is  that  scores  of  experiments  are  being  tried  in  the 
endeavor  to  secure  the  answer.  For  the  spirit  of  service  can- 
not control  industry,  until  from  out  this  jungle  of  broken 
brotherhood  the  path  is  found  that  leads  toward  regularly 
established  methods  of  industrial  cooperation. 

Moreover,  behind  these  immediate  and  clamorous  questions 
lie  others  more  elemental  still.  Our  present  economic  order 
is  an  organized  denial  of  the  spirit  of  service,  because  it  in- 
volves the  right  of  individuals  to  own  and  to  exploit  for  pri- 
vate profit  all  the  natural  resources  of  the  earth,  and  thereby 
to  control  the  fate  of  multitudes  of  people,  dependent  on  those 
natural  resources  for  the  means  of  their  labor  and  the  mainte- 
nance of  their  lives.  The  extension  of  private  property  to 
mean  not  simply  the  ownership  of  what  we  use,  but  the  owner- 
ship of  what  other  men  must  use  or  die,  has  given  to  a  small 
group  in  the  commonwealth  more  control  over  the  destinies 
of  their  fellows  than  was  often  exercised  by  emperors  in  the 
ancient  world.  The  Christianizing  of  our  life  involves  the 
righteous  solution  of  such  critical  problems  at  the  basis  of 
our  economic  order. 

Until  such  questions  are  answered,  even  the  idea  of  apply- 
ing Jesus'  principles  of  service  to  the  conduct  of  industry  will 

184 


THE  GREAT  OBSTACLE  [X-c] 

seem  to  some  utterly  unreal.  When  enforced  religion  is  the 
established  order,  it  is  hard  to  think  that  voluntary  religion 
will  work;  when  feudalism  is  universally  accepted,  democ- 
racy looks  Utopian;  when  judicial  torture  is  agreed  on  by 
all  as  the  motive  for  true  testimony  in  the  courts,  truth  ob- 
tained by  voluntary  evidence  seems  a  dream ;  when  the  eco- 
nomic system  is  built  on  selfishness,  to  motive  it  by  service 
seems  sentimental.  This,  then,  is  the  conclusion  of  the  mat- 
ter. The  triumph  of  the  spirit  of  Christian  service  in  our 
economic  relationships  involves  something  more  than  the 
individual's  desire  to  be  in  a  useful  business,  to  make  industry 
help  human  welfare  as  well  as  create  profit,  and  to  put  the 
professional  spirit  into  his  work.  It  involves  profound  changes 
in  our  economic  system.  Christians  will  differ,  as  other  men 
will,  about  the  nature  of  these  changes  and  the  methods  by 
which  they  should  be  achieved.  But  that  reforms  are  criti- 
cally demanded  to  bring  our  industrial  life  under  the  sway  of 
cooperative  methods,  he  who  takes  in  earnest  Jesus  Christ's 
rightful  mastery  of  all  man's  life  can  hardly  doubt.  And 
such  a  man  will  seek,  at  any  cost  to  his  own  profit,  to  bring 
those  changes  in. 


1*5 


CHAPTER  XI 

The   Motive  of  Gratitude 

DAILY    READINGS 

Our  study  has  concerned  itself  with  the  principles  and 
methods  of  the  service  which  we  ourselves  are  called  upon 
to  render.  We  have  not  yet  faced  the  considerable  fact  that 
a  great  deal  of  serving  was  done  before  we  were  born ;  that 
our  own  lives  are  the  children  of  sacrifice  beyond  our  power 
to  estimate  or  to  repay.  Let  a  man  meditate  upon  the  cost  of 
all  the  blessings  he  enjoys,  let  him  gratefully  recall  the  bur- 
dens borne,  the  blood  poured  out  for  common  benedictions 
which  he  shares,  and  he  will  be  the  readier  to  make  repay- 
ment in  service  to  the  race.  Consider  in  the  daily  readings 
the  frequent  experiences  in  which  this  backward  look  of  grat- 
itude would  steady  and  strengthen  us. 

Eleventh  Week,  First  Day 

Say  not  ye,  There  are  yet  four  months,  and  then  com- 
eth  the  harvest?  behold,  I  say  unto  you,  Lift  up  your  eyes, 
and  look  on  the  fields,  that  they  are  white  already  unto 
harvest.  He  that  reapeth  receiveth  wages,  and  gathereth 
fruit  unto  life  eternal;  that  he  that  soweth  and  he  that 
reapeth  may  rejoice  together.  For  herein  is  the  saying 
true,  One  soweth,  and  another  reapeth.  I  sent  you  to  reap 
that  whereon  ye  have  not  labored:  others  have  labored, 
and  ye  are  entered  into  their  labor. — John  4 :  35-38. 

In  service,  as  in  every  other  activity,  days  come  when  mo- 
notony makes  our  tasks  seem  stale  and  tasteless.  The  bane  of 
commonplaceness  falls  upon  our  work.  Martineau  wrote : 
"God  has  so  arranged  the  chronometry  of  our  spirits  that  there 
shall  be  a  thousand  silent  moments  between  the  striking 
hours."  Many  a  useful  life  succumbs  to  fag,  that  never  would 
have  given  in  to  opposition.  Let  a  man,  then,  look  back ! 
What  accumulated  labor,  obscure,  patient,  and  wearisome, 
has  made  possible  the  privileges  into  the  possession  of  which 

186 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-2] 

we  were  born !  Civilization  has  grown  like  coral  islands  from 
the  imperceptible  contributions  of  innumerable  sacrifices.  In 
1864,  when  Lee's  army  was  invading  Pennsylvania,  a  citizen 
of  Philadelphia  telegraphed  General  Halleck  at  Washington 
to  know  if  he  could  be  of  any  service.  He  received  this  grim- 
reply  :  "We  have  five  times  as  many  generals  as  We  want,  but 
we  are  greatly  in  need  of  privates.  Any  one  volunteering  in 
that  capacity  will  be  thankfully  received."  We  recall  the  names 
of  the  generals  who  have  led  the  forward  march  of  man. 
Think  today  of  the  privates,  of  the  weariness  of  their  march- 
ing, the  monotony  of  their  endurance,  the  patience  of  their 
obscure  carrying  on,  to  which  we  are  inimitably  indebted. 
Cannot  we  then  add  our  quota  of  enduring  labor  for  the 
common  good? 

Our  Father, -unto  Thee,  in  the  light  of  our  Saviour's  blessed 
life,  we  would  lift  our  souls.  We  thank  Thee  for  that  true 
Light  shining  in  our  world  with  still  increasing  brightness. 
We  thank  Thee  for  all  who  have  walked  therein,  and  espe- 
cially for  those  near  to  us  and  dear,  in  whose  lives  we  have 
seen  this  excellent  glory  and  beauty.  Make  us  glad  in  all  who 
have  faithfully  lived;  make  us  glad  in  all  who  have  peace- 
fully died.  Lift  us  into  light,  and  love,  and  purity,  and  blessed- 
ness, and  give  us  at  last  our  portion  with  those  who  have 
trusted  in  Thee  and  sought,  in  small  things  as  in  great,  in 
things  temporal  and  things  eternal,  to  do  Thy  holy  Will. 
Amen. — Rufus  Ellis. 

Eleventh  Week,  Second  Day 

For  it  hath  been  signified  unto  me  concerning  you,  my 
brethren,  by  them  that  are  of  the  household  of  Chloe,  that 
there  are  contentions  among  you.  Now  this  I  mean,  that 
each  one  of  you  saith,  I  am  of  Paul;  and  I  of  Apollos;  and 
I  of  Cephas;  and  I  of  Christ.  Is  Christ  divided?  was  Paul 
crucified  for  you?  or  were  ye  baptized  into  the  name  of 
Paul?  I  thank  God  that  I  baptized  none  of  you,  save 
Crispus  and  Gaius;  lest  any  man  should  say  that  ye  were 
baptized  into  my  name. — I  Cor.  i:  11-15. 

Paul  had  poured  out  his  labor  on  the  Corinthian  church, 
and  here,  in  dissension,  they  were  forgetting  their  indebtedness 
to  him,  were  bestowing  the  credit  of  their  founding  and  the 
loyalty  of  their  allegiance  on  Cephas  or  Apollos.  Let  none 

187 


[XI-3]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

suppose  that  this  was  easy  for  Paul  to  bear.  He  smarted 
under  this  lack  of  recognition.  He  knew  that  he  was  not 
being  justly  treated.  Few  servants  of  any  cause  can  escape 
altogether  such  hours  as  Paul  must  have  faced  when  Chloe 
told  him  the  unhappy  news  from  Corinth.  We  all  like  to  be 
recognized  and  accorded  due  credit,  and  we  all  are  tempted  to 
quit  service  when  we  are  slighted.  Let  a  man,  then,  look 
back!  What  if  all  the  unrecognized,  unrewarded  soldiers  of 
the  common  good,  whose  beneficiaries  we  are,  had  left  their 
posts  because  another  received  the  credit  that  was  their  due? 
We  ourselves  are  the  offspring  of  that  kind  of  devotion  which 
Paul  put  into  his  work.  He  did  not  demand  pay  on  Saturday 
night  or  ask  for  all  the  recognition  he  deserved.  Cannot  we, 
then,  contribute  our  share  of  that  self-forgetfulness  without 
which  the  world  could  not  go  on? 

O  Almighty  God,  who  hast  knit  together  Thine  elect  in  one 
communion  and  fellowship,  in  the  mystical  body  of  Thy  Son, 
Christ  our  Lord:  Grant  us  grace  so  to  follow  Thy  blessed 
saints  in  all  -virtuous  and  godly  living,  that  we  may  come  to 
those  unspeakable  joys,  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  them 
that  unfeignedly  love  Thee ;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 
Amen. — Book  of  Common  Prayer,  1549. 

Eleventh  Week,  Third  Day 

And  what  shall  I  more  say?  for  the  time  will  fail  me 
if  I  tell  of  Gideon,  Barak,  Samson,  Jephthah;  of  David 
and  Samuel  and  the  prophets:  who  through  faith  subdued 
kingdoms,  wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises, 
stopped  the  mouths  of  lions,  quenched  the  power  of  fire, 
escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword,  from  weakness  were  made 
strong,  waxed  mighty  in  war,  turned  to  flight  armies  of 
aliens.  Women  received  their  dead  by  a  resurrection:  and 
others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  their  deliverance;  that 
they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection:  and  others  had 
trial  of  mockings  and  scourgings,  yea,  moreover  of  bonds 
and  imprisonment:  they  were  stoned,  they  were  sawn 
asunder,  they  were  tempted,  they  were  slain  with  the 
sword:  they  went  about  in  sheepskins,  in  goatskins;  being 
destitute,  afflicted,  ill-treated  (of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy),  wandering  in  deserts  and  mountains  and  caves, 
and  the  holes  of  the  earth. — Heb.  11:32-38. 

Such  a  passage  as  this  should  always  be  read  by  those  who 
1 88 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-4] 

in  their  service  are  meeting  with  active  opposition.  Many  a 
servant  of  good  causes  in  his  community,  who  seriously  pro- 
poses the  abatement  of  some  social  nuisance  or  moral  plague, 
is  surprised  at  the  hornets'  nest  of  antagonism  he  arouses. 
Said  General  Booth  in  an  impatient  hour :  "The  day  has 
gone  when  the  priest  and  Levite  are  content  to  pass  by  the 
wounded  man.  They  must  needs  stop  now,  turn  back,  and 
punch  the  head  of  any  good  Samaritan  who  dares  to  come  to 
the  rescue."  If  in  such  circumstances  a  man  is  tempted  to  be 
conquered  by  disgust,  let  him  look  back !  Of  what  stuff  have 
the  men  and  women  been,  who  refused  to  get  on  with  the 
world  but  proposed  to  get  the  world  on?  The  fire  of  their 
resolution  was  no  flickering  candle  to  be  blown  out  by  man's 
hostility ;  it  was  fanned  rather  to  a  stronger  blaze  by  the 
antagonistic  wind.  Beneficiaries  as  we  are  of  such  courageous 
service,  can  we  not  render  our  share  of  it  when  the  need 
comes?  Moreover,  "the  memory  of  one  good  fight  for  freedom 
or  justice  gives  a  thrilling  sense  of  worth  for  a  lifetime." 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  who  adornest  the  sacred 
body  of  Thy  Church  by  the  confessions  of  holy  Martyrs; 
grant  us,  we 'pray  Thee,  that  both  by  their  doctrines  and  their 
pious  example,  we  may  follow  after  what  is  pleasing  in  Thy 
sight;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Leonine  Sac- 
ramentary. 

Eleventh  Week,  Fourth  Day 

For  this  cause  left  I  thee  in  Crete,  that  thou  shouldest 
set  in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting,  and  appoint 
elders  in  every  city,  as  I  gave  thee  charge.  .  .  .  For 
there  are  many  unruly  men,  vain  talkers  and  deceivers, 
specially  they  of  the  circumcision,  whose  mouths  must  be 
stopped;  men  who  overthrow  whole  houses,  teaching 
things  which  they  ought  not,  for  filthy  lucre's  sake.  One 
of  themselves,  a  prophet  of  their  own,  said, 

Cretans  are   always   liars,   evil  beasts,   idle   gluttons. 

This  testimony  is  true. — Titus  i :  5,  10-13. 

What  a  remarkable  reason  for  setting  a  man  at  work  in 
Crete !  The  people  there  are  bestial,  idle  liars — therefore 
work  for  them !  They  are  gluttonous,  sordid,  scandalous — 
therefore,  live  among  them !  Surely,  before  he  was  through 
with  Paul's  commission,  Titus  must  have  faced  the  tempta- 
tion to  be  thoroughly  out  of  patience  with  the  folk  for  whom 

189 


[XI-5]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

he  toiled.  Nor  can  any  serious  servant  of  his  fellows  escape 
this  trial.  People  are  so  often  contemptible ;  their  sly  deceits, 
their  hard  ingratitude,  their  characters  as  weak  as  rotted  cloth 
that  punctures  at  the  touch,  fill  us  with  loathing.  We  are 
tempted  to  accept  the  motto  which  John  Hay,  with  genial 
cynicism,  has  suggested,  "Love  your  neighbor,  but  be  careful 
of  your  neighborhood."  Yet,  before  a  man  utterly  surrenders 
to  this  easy  doctrine,  let  him  look  back!  If  the  Christian 
missionaries  that  evangelized  our  barbarous  forefathers  had 
lacked  Titus's  spirit  when  he  went  to  Crete,  where  would 
our  civilization  now  have  been?  The  entire  background  of 
our  lives  from  the  Cross  of  Christ  to  our  parents'  patience 
with  our  wayward  youth  is  compact  with  the  ministry  of  love 
to  unloveliness.  Have  we  no  gratitude  that  will  lead  us  to 
repay  a  little  on  our  immeasurable  debt? 

Almighty  and  everlasting  God,  zvho  dost  enkindle  the  flame 
of  Thy  love  in  the  hearts  of  the  Saints,  grant  to  our  minds 
the  same  faith  and  power  of  love;  that  as  we  rejoice  in  their 
triumphs,  we  may  profit  by  their  examples;  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Gothic  Missal. 

Eleventh  Week,  Fifth  Day 

The  godly  man  is  perished  out  of  the  earth,  and  there  is 
none  upright  among  men:  they  all  lie  in  wait  for  blood; 
they  hunt  every  man  his  brother  with  a  net.  Their  hands 
are  upon  that  which  is  evil  to  do  it  diligently ;  the  prince 
asketh,  and  the  judge  is  ready  for  a  reward;  and  the  great 
man,  he  uttereth  the  evil  desire  of  his  soul:  thus  they 
weave  it  together.  The  best  of  them  is  as  a  brier;  the 
most  upright  is  worse  than  a  thorn  hedge:  the  day  of  thy 
watchmen,  even  thy  visitation,  is  come;  now  shall  be  their 
perplexity.  Trust  ye  not  in  a  neighbor;  put  ye  not  confi- 
dence in  a  friend;  keep  the  doors  of  thy  mouth  from  her 
that  lieth  in  thy  bosom.  For  the  son  dishonoreth  the 
father,  the  daughter  riseth  up  against  her  mother,  the 
daughter-in-law  against  her  mother-in-law;  a  man's  ene- 
mies are  the  men  of  his  own  house. 

But  as  for  me,  I  will  look  unto  Jehovah;  I  will  wait  for 
the  God  of  my  salvation:  my  God  will  hear  me. — Micah 
7:2-7. 

The  Bible  is  not  an  optimist's  paradise.  The  men  of  Scrip- 
ture face  black  outlooks,  meet  discouraging  situations,  recog- 

190 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-6] 

nize  frankly  the  appalling  nature  of  human  sin  and  its  con- 
sequences. Nor  can  any  servant  of  mankind  in  any  age  go 
on,  wide-eyed  to  life's  forbidding  facts,  without  encountering 
the  temptation  to  despondency. 

"The  time  is  out  of  joint:  O  cursed  spite 
That  ever  I  was  born  to  set  it  right!" 

Yet,  consider  that  all  the  great  victories  of  the  past  have  been 
won  in  the  face  of  just  such  difficulties.  Henry  Ward  Beecher 
said  once  in  his  pulpit:  "Twenty  years  ago  in  my  most  extrav- 
agant mood,  I  could  not  have  dared  to  say  to  Christ,  'Let  me 
live  to  see  slavery  destroyed' ;  and  yet  I  have  lived  to  see  it 
destroyed.  One  such  coronation,  one  such  epoch  lived  through, 
I  should  be  indeed  most  unreasonable  to  ask  to  live  through 
any  more  such  victories.  ...  I  shall  die  before  I  see  com- 
merce and  industry  fairly  regenerated.  Some  of  you  will  live 
to  see  the  beginnings  of  it.  But  I  foresee  it.  I  preach  it.  My 
word  will  not  die  when  I  am  dead.  The  seed  has  sprouted  and 
you  cannot  unsprout  it."  Children  as  we  are  of  such  uncon- 
querable faith  and  sacrifice,  can  we  not  pay  our  quota  in  to 
the  world's  salvation? 

From  being  satisfied  with  myself,  save  me,  good  Lord.  Burn 
into  me  the  sight  of  the  Cities  of  Dreadful  Night  and  the  City 
of  Righteousness.  Make  me  ever  to  hunger  and  thirst  after 
righteousness.  As  I  walk  in  mean  streets,  as  I  am  importuned 
by  beggars,  as  I  talk  with  my  friends,  let  impatience  with  the 
world  make  me  patient  to  serve  Thee  in  any  way,  however 
lowly;  let  discontent  with  modern  life  make  me  content  to 
bear  some  part  of  the  sorrows  of  the  world.  O  Christ  our 
Saviour,  Man  of  Sorrows  and  King  of  Glory,  ever  leading  us 
from  darkness  to  light,  from  evil  to  goodness,  ever  calling  us 
and  recalling  us  from  earth  to  heaven,  let  me  count  all  things 
but  loss  that  I  may  be  found  in  Thee,  and  be  numbered  among 
tliose  ivho  folloit'  Thee  whithersoever  Thou  goest.  Amen. — 
"Prayers  for  the  City  of  God." 

Eleventh  Week,  Sixth  Day 

But  know  this,  that  in  the  last  days  grievous  times  shall 
come.  For  men  shall  be  lovers  of  self,  lovers  of  money, 
boastful,  haughty,  railers,  disobedient  to  parents,  unthank- 
ful, unholy,  without  natural  affection,  implacable,  slan- 
derers, without  self-control,  fierce,  no  lovers  of  good,  trai- 

191 


IXI-6J  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

tors,  headstrong,  puffed  up,  lovers  of  pleasure  rather  than 
lovers  of  God;  holding  a  form  of  godliness,  but  having 
denied  the  power  thereof:  from  these  also  turn  away.  For 
of  these  are  they  that  creep  into  houses,  and  take  captive 
silly  women  laden  with  sins,  led  away  by  divers  lusts, 
ever  learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
the  truth.  And  even  as  Jannes  and  Jambres  withstood 
Moses,  so  do  these  also  withstand  the  truth;  men  cor- 
rupted in  mind,  reprobate  concerning  the  faith.  But  they 
shall  proceed  no  further:  for  their  folly  shall  be  evident 
unto  all  men,  as  theirs  also  came  to  be. — II  Tim.  3: 1-9. 

The  prevalence  of  selfishness  oppresses  the  apostle's  spirit. 
How  familiar  that  mood  is !  The  world  seems  to  us,  in  our 
despondent  moods,  to  be  degenerating  rapidly.  We  say  in 
our  haste  that  all  men  are  not  only  liars,  but  are  "lovers  of 
pleasure  rather  than  lovers  of  God."  Professor  Gilbert  Mur- 
ray of  Oxford  tells  us  that  one  of  the  oldest  documents  known 
to  men — a  cuneiform  fragment  from  the  lowest,  most  ancient 
stratum  of  the  ruins  of  Babylon — begins  with  these  words, 
"Alas !  alas !  times  are  not  what  they  were !"  When  this  fa- 
miliar mood  is  on  us,  let  us  look  back !  What  magnificent 
battles  have  been  fought  by  folk  whose  service  seemed 
swamped  in  the  world's  selfishness !  Through  what  dismaying 
times,  when  all  slick,  swift  schemes  for  tidying  up  the  world 
went  to  pieces,  have  men,  committed  to  unselfishness,  gone  on, 
depressed  but  not  beaten !  They  ended  even  their  dark  visions 
of  human  sin  on  the  major  note  of  hope,  as  the  Apostle  does 
in  our  passage.  They  have  said  with  Rupert  Brooke, 

"Now  God  be  thanked, 
Who  hath  matched  us  with  His  hour." 

All  our  blessings  have  cost  that  indomitable  spirit.  Are  we 
not  under  obligation  to  display  our  share  of  it  in  our  own 

generation  ? 

O  Thou  Lord  of  all  ^vorlds,  we  bless  Thy  Name  for  all 
those  who  have  entered  into  their  rest,  and  reached  the  Prom- 
ised Land,  where  Thou  art  seen  face  to  face.  Give  us  grace 
to  follow  in  their  footsteps,  as  they  followed  in  the  footsteps 
of  Thy  Holy  Son.  Encourage  our  wavering  hearts  by  their 
example,  and  help  us  to  see  in  them  the  memorials  of  Thy 
redeeming  grace,  and  pledges  of  the  heavenly  might  in  which 
the  weak  are  made  strong.  Keep  alive  in  us  the  memory  of 

1 92 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-;] 

those  dear  to  ourselves,  whom  Thou  hast  called  out  of  this 
world,  and  make  it  powerful  to  subdue  within  us  every  vile 
and  unworthy  thought.  Grant  that  every  remembrance  which 
turns  our  hearts  from  things  seen  to  things  unseen,  may  lead 
us  always  upwards  to  Thee,  till  we,  too,  come  to  the  eternal 
rest  which  Thou  hast  prepared  for  Thy  people;  through  Jesus 
Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — F.  J.  A.  Hort. 

Eleventh  Week,  Seventh  Day 

When  a  man  looks  back  from  any  position  of  difficulty  and 
stress  in  which  his  service  lands  him,  he  always  sees  behind 
him  men  who  bore  more  of  the  same  burden,  suffered  more 
of  the  same  ill,  overcame  more  of  the  same  obstacle.  He  is 
unpayably  indebted  for  his  blessings,  to  sacrifices  greater  than 
any  he  can  make. 

Therefore  let  us  also,  seeing  we  are  compassed  about 
with  so  great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  lay  aside  every  weight, 
and  the  sin  which  doth  so  easily  beset  us,  and  let  us  run 
with  patience  the  race  that  is  set  before  us,  looking  unto 
Jesus  the  author  and  perfecter  of  our  faith,  who  for  the 
joy  that  was  set  before  him  endured  the  cross,  despising 
shame,  and  hath  sat  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne 
of  God.  For  consider  him  that  hath  endured  such  gain- 
saying of  sinners  against  himself,  that  ye  wax  not  weary, 
fainting  in  your  souls. — Heb.  12:1-3. 

The  fathers  who  have  sacrificed  before  us  may  well  sur- 
round us  like  a  crowd  of  spectators  to  watch  our  contest,  for 
we  have  in  our  hands  the  spoiling  or  the  fulfilment  of  their 
hard-won  gains.  It  is  idle  to  suppose  that  civilization's  gains 
cannot  be  lost.  History  is  the  narrative  of  one  civilization 
after  another  that  began  with  promise,  rose  to  its  climax, 
and,  failing  to  learn  the  lessons  of  righteousness,  fell  on  ruin. 
God  does  not  guarantee  the  perpetuity  of  our  blessings ;  "ro- 
mantic belief  in  some  ameliorative  drift"  is  a  fool's  paradise. 
Only  vigilance,  devotion,  self-sacrifice,  righteousness,  obedi- 
ence to  the  law  of  God,  can  assure  us  the  retention  of  present 
gains  and  the  achievement  of  new  advances.  All  that  we  have 
was  bought  and  paid  for  by  unselfishness.  Can  we  not  do  for 
others,  not  simply  as  we  would  be  done  by,  but  as  we  have 
been  done  by? 

O  my  God,  O  my  Love,  let  Thy  univearied  and  tender  love 
193 


fXI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

to  me  make  my  love  unwearied  and  tender  to  my  neighbour, 
and  zealous  to  procure,  promote,  and  preserve  his  health,  and 
safety,  and  happiness,  and  life,  that  he  may  be  the  better  able 
to  serve  and  to  love  Thee.  Amen. — Bishop  Ken. 


Behind  the  manifest  differences  between  selfish  and  service- 
able lives,  there  lies  a  contrast,  deep  though  often  hidden,  be- 
tween the  ideas  of  life  from  which  selfishness  and  service 
spring.  Compare  two  contemporaries  like  Napoleon  Bona- 
parte and  William  Wilberforce.  While  the  colossus  was  busy 
bestriding  the  world,  Wilberforce  was  busy  killing  the  African 
slave  trade.  The  story  of  his  tireless  labors  against  the  vil- 
lainous abomination  is  one  of  the  most  thrilling  tales  in  his- 
tory. Rich  in  fortune,  frail  in  health,  beset  by  bitter  antag- 
onism, he  waged  a  philanthropic  war  that  knew  no  truce  and 
would  accept  no  armistice.  On  the  day  when  victory  came 
and  the  slave  trade  of  the  British  Empire  finally  was  doomed, 
Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  amid  the  cheers  of  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, compared  the  thoughts  of  Wilberforce  as  he  went  to 
rest  with  the  thoughts  of  Napoleon  across  the  Channel,  then 
at  the  climax  of  his  power.  The  very  tombs  of  the  two  still 
advertise  the  contrast:  one  symbolic  of  imperial  pomp  and 
pride,  the  other  celebrating  the  life  which  "removed  from 
England  the  guilt  of  the  African  slave  trade."  If,  one  seeks 
the  dominating  ideas  of  life  which  controlled  two  such  char- 
acters, how  evident  they  are!  Napoleon  looked  on  life  as  an 
excellent  place  for  self-aggrandizement;  Wilberforce,  as  an 
excellent  opportunity  for  self-bestowal.  Napoleon  assumed 
that  the  world  owed  him  all  that  he  could  get ;  Wilberforce 
1  assumed  that  he  owed  the  world  all  that  he  could  give.  Na- 

:  poleon's  principle  was  that  humanity  was  under  infinite  obli- 
gation to  him ;  Wilberforce's  principle  was  that  he  was  under 

'  infinite  obligation  to  humanity. 

Only  this  second  motive  is  adequate  to  support  such  a  life 
of  service  as  we  have  been  considering.  But  is  it  true?  In 
what  sense  are  we  so  under  unpayable  obligation  to  mankind 
that  we  should  pour  life  out  in  sacrificial  usefulness,  and  when 
we  have  done  all,  should  say,  "We  are  unprofitable  servants, 
we  have  done  that  which  it  was  our  duty  to  do"? 

194 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-c] 

II 

Plenty  of  people  plainly  do  not  feel  under  any  such  indebt- 
edness. They  stroll  into  life  and  settle  down  in  it,  as  though 
all  its  blessings  had  been  dropped  by  accident  and  had  cost 
nothing.  They  pick  life  up  and  spend  it  carelessly,  as  a  tramp 
picks  up  a  chance  coin  lost  upon  the  street,  with  no  gratitude 
to  the  one  who  earned  it  and  with  no  sense  of  honorable 
obligation  in  its  use.  They  take  the  liberties,  the  civic  priv- 
ileges, the  cultural  gains,  the  spiritual  inheritance  of  the  civ- 
ilization in  which  at  so  late  a  date  they  have  arrived,  and  they 
appropriate  it  all  as  though  it  were  their  own.  They  are  like 
citizens  who  never  have  seen  any  flag  except  a  bright  new 
flag,  unspoiled  by  battle.  They  lack  the  sobering  effect  that 
comes  when  a  man  sees  a  battle-flag,  rent  and  torn  by  shot 
and  shell  and  slit  by  saber  strokes — a  flag  whose  soiled  di- 
shevelment  symbolizes  the  sacrifice  which  made  the  bright 
new  flag  a  possibility. 

How  often  one  wishes  that  these  flippant,  easy-going  bat- 
teners  upon  the  privileges  of  their  generation  could  be  made 
seriously  to  face  the  sacrifices  of  their  sires !  While  the 
Great  War  was  on,  Professor  Gilbert  Murray  wrote :  "As  for 
me  personally,  there  is  one  thought  that  is  always  with  me — 
the  thought  that  other  men  are  dying  for  me,  better  men, 
younger,  with  more  hope  in  their  lives,  many  of  whom  I  have 
taught  and  loved.  The  orthodox  Christian  will  be  familiar 
with  the  thought  of  One  who  loved  you,  dying  for  you.  I 
would  like  to  say  that  now  I  seem  to  be  familiar  with  the 
feeling  that  something  innocent,  something  great,  something 
that  loved  me,  is  dying  and  is  dying  daily  for  me."  Shall  men 
feel  that  once  about  their  own  contemporaries,  and  forget  its 
constant  truth  about  their  sires?  From  the  Stone  Age  until 
now,  lives  beyond  our  power  to  repay  have  been  preparing  for 
us  physical  comforts,  civic  security,  spiritual  enlightenment 
and  liberty,  cultural  privilege  and  Christian  faith.  What  do 
we  suppose  all  this  has*  cost?  One  of  the  most  ennobling 
insights  that  can  come  to  any  man  is  the  perception  that  no 
blessing's  trail  can  be  traced  far  back  without  running  upon 
blood,  that  at  the  end  of  every  road  down  which  a  benedic- 
tion comes  there  stands  a  cross. 

We  take  our  modern  conveniences  for  granted  until  we 
chance  upon  some  comment  like  this  from  Roger  Bacon, 

195 


[XI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

dreaming  in  the  thirteenth  century :  "Machines  for  navigating 
are  possible  without  rowers,  so  that  great  ships  suited  to  rivers 
and  oceans  and  guided  by  one  man  may  be  borne  with  greater 
speed  than  as  if  they  were  full  of  men  rowing.  Likewise 
cars  might  be  made,  so  that  without  a  draft  animal  they  could 
be  moved  with  incredible  celerity.  And  flying  machines  are 
possible  so  that  a  man  may  sit  in  the  middle  turning  some 
device  by  which  artificial  wings  may  beat  the  air  in  the  man- 
ner of  a  flying  bird."  What  a  lavish  expenditure  of  sacri- 
ficial thought  and  energy  from  that  day  to  this,  to  give  us  the 
most  commonplace  conveniences  of  modern  life! 

We  take  our  educational  systems  for  granted,  until  we  run 
by  chance  upon  such  a  word  as  this  from  Governor  Berkeley 
of  the  Colony  of  Virginia  in  1670:  "I  thank  God  there  are  no 
free  schools,  nor  printing,  and  I  hope  we  shall  not  have  them 
these  hundred  years ;  for  learning  has  brought  disobedience 
and  heresy  and  sects  into  the  world,  and  printing  has  divulged 
them  and  libels  against  the  best  government.  God  keep  us 
from  both !"  Who  can  measure  the  sacrificial  devotion  that 
has  been  required  from  that  day  to  this  to  give  schools  to  all 
the  people? 

We  take  for  granted  our  national  security  and  our  inherited 
ideals  of  civic  life,  until  some  special  anniversary  like  the 
Tercentenary  of  the  Pilgrims  reminds  us  of  our  unfathom- 
able indebtedness.  In  1607,  thirteen  years  before  the  May- 
flower came,  a  settlement  of  English  commercial  men  was 
founded  at  Popham  Beach  in  Maine.  It  lasted  but  a  single 
winter.  For  one  winter  only  did  they  bear  the  bitter  cold, 
the  loneliness  of  separation  from  their  homes,  the  fear  of 
hostile  Indians.  They  had  come  for  money,  and  all  the  money 
that  they  could  get  was  not  worth  what  they  endured.  But 
there  was  that  other  settlement  that  loneliness  and  bitter  cold 
and  hunger  and  fear  of  hostile  savages  could  not  dismay. 
Historians  say  that  at  Popham  Beach  they  came  for  money 
and  it  was  not  worth  while ;  but  the  Pilgrims  and  the  Puri- 
tans remained,  because  they  came  for  conscience's  sake  and 
God's.  Consider  those  rememberable  words  of  John  Rob- 
inson and  Elder  Brewster :  "We  are  knite  togeather,  as  a 
body,  in  a  most  strict  and  sacred  bond  and  covenante  of  the 
Lord,  of  the  violation  whereof  we  make  great  conscience,  and 
by  vertue  whereof  we  do  hould  ourselves  straitly  tied  to  all 
care  of  each  others  good  and  of  ye  whole.  ...  It  is  not  with 

196 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-c] 

us  as  with  other  men;  whom  small  things  can  discourage, 
and  small  discontentments  cause  to  wish  themselves  at  home 
again."  Not  a  blessing  does  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  enjoy 
today,  that  has  not  been  baptized  with  the  blood  and  tears 
of  men  like  that. 

How  easily  also  do  we  take  for  granted  the  innumerable 
blessings  that  have  permeated  our  lives  because  the  Christian 
Gospel  has  been  for  sixty  generations  at  ivork  among  us! 
The  English  Book  of  Common  Prayer  can  now  be  cheaply 
purchased,  easily  used,  and  peacefully  enjoyed.  We  assume 
it  as  a  possession  of  the  Christian  world,  put  freely  at  any- 
one's disposal.  Dean  Stanley,  however,  calls  our  attention 
to  the  strange  tautologies  which  the  book  contains :  "assemble 
and  meet  together,"  "acknowledge  and  confess,"  "humble  and 
lowly,"  "goodness  and  mercy."  Why  this  curious  reduplica- 
tion of  ideas?  Because  "assemble,"  "confess,"  "humble,"  and 
"mercy"  are  Norman  French,  and.  "meet  together,"  "acknowl- 
edge," "lowly,"  and  "goodness"  are  Anglo-Saxon.  Imbedded 
in  the  very  structure  of  the  book  are  the  relics  of  an  old 
struggle,  where  with  blood  and  strife  two  races  were  trying 
to  live  together  on  the  Isle  of  Britain  and  one  Church  was 
striving  to  put  her  arms  about  them  both.  Here  is  a  true 
parable  of  every  Christian  blessing  that  Christendom  enjoys. 
The  signs  of  sacrifice  are  on  them  all ;  their  trail  is  red  with 
blood ;  they  come  to  us  every  one  like  Paul  to  the  Corin- 
thians, bearing  in  his  body  "the  marks  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 
Common  convenience,  cultural  opportunity,  national  inheri- 
tance, spiritual  privilege — they  are  not  to  be  taken  for  granted. 
They  should  awaken  the  depths  of  gratitude  in  every  recipient. 
They  have  all  been  bought  and  paid  for  with  other  blood  than 
ours,  and  with  sacrificial  toil  that  we  never  can  repay. 

Ill 

Such  a  grateful  consciousness  of  the  cost  which  other  gen- 
erations and  other  men  have  paid  for  privileges  which  we 
commonly  enjoy,  cannot  be  left  a  passive  sentiment  expressed 
alone  in  words.  For  these  men  of  olden  times  launched  en- 
terprises which  they  could  not  bring  to  a  conclusion.  They 
pushed  as  far  as  their  finger  tips  could  further  them  causes 
upon  which  they  had  set  their  hearts ;  but  at  the  last  they  had 
to  trust  the  generations  which  should  come  after  them  to 

197 


[XI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

bring  those  causes  to  successful  culmination.  //  -we  fail,  they 
fail!  They  fail  as  soldiers  do  who  have  fought  well  and 
fallen,  but  who  have  no  successors  now  to  press  on  over  their 
dead  bodies  and  complete  the  charge  which  they  were  making. 
They  fail  as  builders  do,  who  lay  broad  the  foundations  of 
their  temple,  but  leave  behind  them  children  who  forget  their 
fathers'  plans  and  neglect  the  shrine  which  the  fathers 
had  begun. 

In  Europe  there  are  cathedrals  that  took  as  long  as  six 
centuries  in  building.  What  dreams  dawned  upon  the  minds 
of  those  who  planned  them  at  their  start !  What  ideals  may 
well  have  thronged  the  thoughts  of  those  who,  midway  in 
their  construction,  wrought  here  a  graceful  spire  or  there  a 
buttress !  But  at  every  stage  in  the  building  all  the  past 
depended  upon  the  present.  The  generation  then  alive  could 
leave  to  ruin  and  neglect,  or  bring  to  culmination,  the  things 
the  fathers  had  conceived.  Any  sensitive  man  at  work  upon 
the  structure  during  the  six  centuries  of  its  building,  may 
well  have  heard  his  forefathers  pleading :  Lo,  how  great  a 
thing  we  planned !  And  now  the  responsibility  for  its  fur- 
therance falls  on  you ;  fail  us  not ! 

"Our  fathers  in  a  wondrous  age, 
Ere  yet  the  earth  was  small, 
Insured  to  us  an  heritage, 
And  doubted  not  at  all 
That  we,  the  children  of  their  heart, 
Which  then  did  beat  so  high, 
In  later  time  should  play  like  part 
For  our  posterity.      . 
Dear-bought  and  clear,  a  thousand  year 
Our  fathers'  title  runs. 
Make  we  likewise  their  sacrifice, 
Defrauding  not  our  sons !" 

Sacrificial  service,  therefore,  is  not  a  matter  of  generosity 
alone;  it  is  a  matter  of  honor.  To  be  selfish  is  to  be  an  in- 
grate.  The  unserviceable  man  is  taking  with  full  hands  bless- 
ings that  cost  toil  and  tears  and  blood,  and  is  expending  them 
all  upon  himself.  His  lack  of  generosity  is  fundamentally  lack 
of  gratitude. 

IV 

To  this  sentiment  of  gratitude  the  New  Testament  makes 
its  characteristic  appeal  for  service.  The  distinguishing 

198 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-c] 

quality  of  the  Christian  motive  for  unselfishness  lies  here: 
u-e  are  expected  to  live  sacrificial  lives,  because  zee  ourselves 
already  are  the  beneficiaries  of  sacrificial  living  beyond  our 
pozver  to  equal  or  repay.  Now,  gratitude,  however  homely  its 
occasion  or  simple  its  expression,  is  in  itself  an  engaging 
quality.  Capacity  to  appreciate  benefits  received  and  thank- 
fully to  recall  them  is  inseparable  from  fine-grained  char- 
acter. When  races  are  discovered  with  no  word  to  convey 
gratitude,  no  phrase  for  even  the  simple  "Thank  you,"  and 
with  no  apparent  feeling  that  would  call  for  such  a  phrase, 
we  know  that  they  are  in  the  abysmal  pit  of  human  character. 
But  both  depth  and  delicacy  of  nature  are  revealed  when  in 
human  relationships  men  are  serviceably  grateful  to  one  an- 
other, or  when  they  interpret  their  religious  life  as  Benjamin 
Franklin  did  in  his  daily  morning  prayer :  "Accept  my  kind 
offices  to  Thy  other  children  as  the  only  return  in  my  power 
for  Thy  continual  favors  to  me." 

To  this  grace  the  New  Testament  makes  its  habitual  ap- 
peal. We  should  love  others  because  God  first  loved  us  (I 
John  4 :  19)  ;  we  should  forgive  our  enemies  because  we  have 
been  forgiven  (Luke  6:36);  we  should  lay  down  our  lives 
for  the  brethren  because  Christ  first  laid  down  his  life  for 
us  (I  John  3:  16)  ;  we  should  love  even  our  enemies  because 
God's  impartial  care  has  included  us  all,  just  and  unjust,  good 
and  evil  (Matt.  5:45);  we  should  be  kind  one  to  another, 
tenderhearted,  forgiving  each  other,  even  as  God  also  in 
Christ  forgave  us  (Eph.  4:  32)  ;  the  law  of  our  life  should  be, 
"Freely  ye  have  received,  freely  give"  (Matt.  10:8).  Con- 
tinually in  the  New  Testament  one  lifts  his  eyes  from  an  ap- 
peal for  generous  service  to  see  in  the  background  prior 
service,  still  more  generous,  long  since  rendered  us.  The 
Gospel  insists  that  we  are  under  an  unpayable  debt  of  grati- 
tude which  all  our  self-denying  service  never  can  discharge. 

Consider  in  terms  of  our  personal  experience  how  many 
things  there  are  for  which  we  never  bargained  and  for  which 
we  cannot  pay !  They  are  not  for  sale.  They  belong  to  that 
area  of  life — the  New  Testament  calls  it  "grace" — where  we 
receive  blessings  which  we  did  not  earn,  are  given  free  gifts 
of  which  we  must  be  as  worthy  as  we  can. 

The  beauty  of  nature  is  a  free  gift.  We  paid  no  installment 
of  service  down,  in  return  for  which  God  so  gloriously  fur- 
nished the  house  in  which  we  live.  Sunrise  and  sunset,  snow- 

199 


[XI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

capped  mountains  and  the  ancient  sea,  elm  trees  and  fringed 
gentians,  white  birch  trees  against  green  backgrounds,  the 
surf  on  a  windy  day,  the  grass, 

"the  handkerchief  of  the  Lord, 
A  scented  gift  and  remembrancer  designedly  dropt. 
Bearing  the  owner's  name  someway  in  the  corners, 
That  we  may  see  and  remark,  and  say,  Whose?" 

— all  this  is  a  free  bestowal  to  be  gratefully  taken  and  worthily 
used. 

The  great  spirits  who  have  preceded  us  and  through  whom 
God  has  shined,  like  the  sun  through  an  eastern  window,  to 
our  spiritual  enlightenment,  are  a  free  gift.  We  can  purchase 
the  letter  to  the  Ephesians  for  a  few  pence,  but  we  cannot 
pay  for  Paul.  A  volume  of  Phillips  Brooks's  sermons  is  for 
sale,  but  nothing  we  can  do  could  earn  for  us  the  presence 
in  our  world  of  such  a  soul  as  his.  We  can  pay  for  the  print- 
ing of  Browning's  poems,  but  what  shall  we  give  in  exchange 
for  the  poems  themselves  qr  for  the  personal  life  from  which 
they  flow?  A  few  dollars  will  buy  a  seat  at  the  concert,  but 
we  can  never  pay  for  Bach's  Passion  music.  Such  blessings 
are  not  for  sale ;  we  cannot  bargain  for  them ;  they  are  given 
us  straightway  when  we  are  born,  and  we  grow  up,  if  we  are 
wise,  to  be  glad  that  they  are  in  our  world  and  to  use  them 
worthily. 

Our  most  beautiful  human  relationships  are  a  free  gift.  The 
first  fact  in  our  childhood  was  not  service  rendered  but  service 
received.  We  did  not  pay  in  advance  for  the  motherhood 
that  bore  us  and  the  love  that  nourished  us ;  all  this  was 
poured  out  freely;  we  were  the  unconscious  recipients  of  un- 
selfish love  that  we  had  never  earned.  Home  life  is  thus 
built  on  the  honor  system,  where  children  are  first  of  all 
served  with  uncalculating  devotion  and  then  are  expected  in 
return  to  live  as  gratitude  will  prompt.  In  some  relationships 
we  may  work  first  and  be  paid  afterward;  in  a  home  we  are 
paid  first  with  lavish  love  and  afterward  make  our  return  in 
thankfulness.  Moreover,  all  fine  friendship  and  true  love  are 
free  bestowals.  One  cannot  buy  them.  They  do  not  belong  to 
the  realm  of  the  bargain  counter ;  they  belong  to  the  realm  of 
grace;  and  he  who  is  blessed  in  possessing  them,  if  he  have 
an  understanding  heart,  is  humbly  thankful  for  an  unspeakable 
gift. 

200 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-c] 

Whether  we  look,  therefore,  at  the  social  life  of  man,  with 
its  large  gains  for  which  our  sires  poured  out  their  sacrifice, 
or  at  our  own  personal  experience,  the  whole  background  of 
our  existence  is  compact  with  free  bestowals  for  which  we 
cannot  pay.  To  be  sure,  life  is  not  all  grace;  with  other 
realms  of  experience  differing  from  grace  or  conflicting  with 
it  our  daily  lives  must  deal.  Injustice  is  here ;  we  sometimes 
suffer  ills  that  we  do  not  deserve.  Just  punishment  is  here; 
fair  retribution  sometimes  is  meted  out  upon  our  ill  deserts. 
Just  reward  is  here ;  sometimes  we  are  paid  as  we  deserve  for 
meritorious  work.  But  around  these  other  realms  and  inter- 
penetrating them  is  the  realm  of  grace,  and  the  tone  of  a 
man's  life  depends  largely  upon  where  among  these  four 
realms  his  major  emphasis  falls.  If  he  stresses  life's  injustice,' 
he  grows  bitter.  If  he  is  too  much  impressed  by  life's  stern 
punishments,  he  grows  hard.  If  he  relishes  too  much  life's 
just  rewards,  he  grows  self-satisfied  and  proud.  A  man  of 
fine  quality  is  of  another  spirit  altogether.  He  regards  him- 
self as  the  fortunate  recipient  of  countless  blessings  which 
he  never  earned.  He  knows  that  he  is  in  debt  beyond  his 
capacity  to  pay,  and  that  therefore,  so  far  from  the  world 
owing  him  a  living,  he  owes  the  world  a  life.  While  some  are 
greedily  trying  to  get  what  they  deserve,  he  is  trying  to  de- 
serve what  already  has  been  given  him.  He  is  gracious,  be- 
caust  he  sees  his  life  in  terms  of  grace. 

V 

If  such  a  spirit  is  conceivable  in  one  who  is  not  consciously 
a  Christian,  what  ought  we  to  expect  from  one  who  has 
entered  into  saving  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ?  For  the 
realm  of  grace  belongs  peculiarly  to  our  Lord.  He  is  its 
representative  and  master.  Grace  had  been  in  the  world 
before  he  came,  but  as  a  slender  stream  flows  out  at  last  into 
its  main  channel,  deep  and  broad,  and  takes  its  name  from  the 
place  of  its  debouching,  so  grace  flowed  out  at  last  into  human 
life  through  the  ministry  of  Jesus,  and  from  that  day  to  this 
its  name  has  been,  "the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

He  knew  injustice;  upon  his  brow  the  crown  of  thorns  was 
pressed.  Just  punishment  he  understood,  and  warned  men 
that  the  last  farthing  must  be  paid  (Matt.  5:26).  Just  re- 
ward he  believed  in,  and  promised  it  to  all  who  wrought 

201 


[XI-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

righteousness.  But  the  characteristic  of  his  life  which  deter- 
mines the  flavor  of  his  spirit  is  the  constant  presence  in  his 
thought  of  God's  immeasurable  grace.  A  love  that  surrounds 
us  before  we  are  born,  broods  over  our  unconsciousness,  seeks 
us  in  our  waywardness,  and  welcomes  us  home  again  as  a 
father  greets  his  long-lost  son  from  a  far  country,  is  nothing 
which  anyone  can  earn.  A  love  which  freely  forgives  when 
by  the  very  nature  of  forgiveness  the  recipient  does  not  de- 
serve it,  has  no  claim  upon  it,  has  merited  its  opposite,  is 
pure  grace.  A  love  that  opens  before  us  vistas  of  expectation 
where 

"All  we  have  willed  or  hoped  or  dreamed  of  good  shall  exist; 
Not  its  semblance,  but  itself," 

is  clear  grace.  The  Fourth  Gospel  describes  him  truly:  He 
was  "iul\  of  grace"  (John  i :  14). 

Above  all,  his  disciples  poignantly  have  felt  that  the 
vicarious  sacrifice  of  his  life  and  death,  by  which  all  his  teach- 
ing was  set  afire  in  a  conflagration  that  has  lighted  up  the 
world,  involves  us  in  a  debt  which  we  can  never  pay.  Sin- 
ners cannot  themselves  bear  all  the  consequences  of  their 
own  iniquity.  Some  consequences  fall  in  punishment  upon 
the  evil-doers ;  some  fall  in  unsought  tragedy  upon  the  inno- 
cent; some  are  voluntarily  assumed  by  saviorhood  when  it 
seeks  the  reclamation  of  the  sinners.  This  is  the  law  of  grace 
which  runs  through  all  of  life,  like  the  scarlet  thread  through 
the  ropes  of  the  British  Navy  which  shows  that  they  are  the 
property  of  the  Crown.  This  is  the  law  that  Christ  exalted 
and  made  glorious,  when  for  us  men  and  our  salvation  he 
endured  in  life  and  death  his  Cross  of  vicarious  saviorhood. 

If,  therefore,  a  man  is  indeed  a  Christian ;  if  around  his 
life  he  sees  the  generous  bestowal  of  ancestral  sacrifice,  and 
in  his  daily  experience'  feels  the  benediction  of  free  gifts  for 
which  he  never  paid;  and  if  still  deeper  he  has  been  blessed 
by  the  love  of  God  which  Christ  revealed,  forgiven  by  his 
mercy,  enlarged  and  liberated  by  his  hopes,  and  so  knows 
himself  to  be  beyond  computation  the  beneficiary  of  the  Cross, 
honor  demands  of  him  nothing  less  than  such  a  life  of  sacri- 
ficial service  as  the  New  Testament  exalts.  The  essence  of 
paganism  is  to  see  life  as  a  huge  grab  bag,  somehow  myster- 
iously put  here,  from  which  the  strongest  hands  may  snatch 
the  most.  The  heart  of  Christianity  is  to  see  life  over- 

202 


THE  MOTIVE  OF  GRATITUDE  [XI-c] 

shadowed  by  the  Cross ;  to  stand  humble  and  grateful  in  the 
presence  of  immeasurable  grace ;  to  know  that  we  have  already 
been. served  beyond  our  possibility  to  make  return.  The  in- 
evitable consequence  of  such  an  outlook  on  life  is  tireless, 
self-denying  usefulness,  without  condescension,  for  we  are 
hopelessly  in  debt  ourselves,  without  pride,  for  we  have  noth- 
ing to  give  which  we  did  not  first  of  'all  receive.  Our  spirit 
is  Joyce  Kilmer's  when  he  went  out  to  fight  and  to  die  in 
France : 

"Lord,  Thou  didst  suffer  more  for  me 
Than  all  the  hosts  of  land  and  sea. 
So  let  me  render  back  again 
This  millionth  of   Thy  gift.     Amen." 


203 


CHAPTER  XII 

Victorious  Personality 

DAILY  READINGS 

Granted  that  service  to  our  fellows  is  both  our  obligation 
and  privilege,  what  has  religion  to  do  with  it?  Might  not  a 
plea  for  service  be  made  from  which  all  mention  of  God  had 
been  elided,  and  in  which  alike  the  motive,  exercise,  and  issue 
of  helpfulness  were  confined  to  human  relationships?*  Such 
questions  are  frequent  in  our  generation.  Mystical  experience 
of  fellowship  with  God  and  practical  service  to  humankind 
do  not  seem  to  involve  each  other.  According  to  tempera- 
ment some  are  tempted  to  divorce  service  from  a  cherished 
religious  experience,  or  to  divorce  religion  from  a  zealous 
desire  to  serve. 

Twelfth  Week,  First  Day 

We  know  that  we  have  passed  out  of  death  into  life,  be- 
cause we  love  the  brethren.  He  that  loveth  not  abideth 
in  death.  Whosoever  hateth  his  brother  is  a  murderer: 
and  ye  know  that  no  murderer  hath  eternal  life  abiding  in 
him.  Hereby  know  we  love,  because  he  laid  down  his  life 
for  us:  and  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  lives  for  the  breth- 
ren. But  whoso  hath  the  world's  goods,  and  beholdeth  his 
brother  in  need,  and  shutteth  up  his  compassion  from 
him,  how  doth  the  love  of  God  abide  in  him?  My  little 
children,  let  us  not  love  in  word,  neither  with  the  tongue; 
but  in  deed  and  truth. — I  John  3:  14-18. 

The  love  of  God  for  us,  our  love  for  God,  and  our  love  for 
our  brethren  are  in  John's  thought  perfectly  mingled.  As 
old  John  Scotus  Erigena  put  it :  "We  are  not  bidden  to  love 
God  with  one  love,  and  our  neighbour  with  another ;  neither 
are  we  instructed  to  cleave  to  the  Creator  with  one  part  of 
our  love,  and  to  creation  with  another  part ;  but  in  one  and 
the  same  undivided  love  should  we  embrace  both  God  and  our 
neighbour."  The  difficulty  which  many  folk  have  in  seeing  the 

204 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-2] 

need  for  God  in  a  serviceable  life  is  that  they  miss  utterly  this 
vital  idea  of  God  as  a  present,  permeating  Spirit  of  Love,  the 
immediate  source  of  all  the  love  there  is.  Their  God  is  an 
isolated  individual  a  long  way  off;  he  is  not  a  present  Spirit 
jn  whom  "we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being."  Say  "God" 
to  them,  and  their  thought  shoots  up  into  the  interstellar 
spaces ;  it  leaps  back  into  the  pre-nebular  aeons ;  it  does  not 
go  down  into  the  fertile  places  of  the  spirit,  here  and  now, 
where,  as  Jesus  said,  living  waters  rise.  We  do  actually  deal 
daily  with  two  kinds  of  existence :  one  material,  the  other 
spiritual.  The  central  question  of  all  life,  then,  is  this : 
which  of  these  two  represents  and  expresses  the  eternal  and 
creative  Power?  To  believe  in  God  is  to  believe  that  our 
spirits,  rather  than  our  bodies,  express  Eternal  Reality.  To 
believe  in  God  is  to  believe  that  all  that  is  best  in  us  is  the 
Eternal  in  us,  and  that  when  we  deal  with  righteousness  and 
love  we  are  actually  dealing  with  God,  for  "God  is  love." 

God  is  ever  ready,  but  we  are  ever  unready;  God  is  nigh 
to  us,  but  we  are  far  from  Him;  God  is  within,  we  are  with- 
out; God  is  at  home,  we  are  strangers.  The  prophet  says; 
"God  leadeth  the  righteous  by  a  narrow  path  into  a  bread 
highway,  till  they  come  into  a  zvide  and  open  place";  that  is, 
unto  the  true  freedom  of  that  spirit  which  hath  become  one 
spirit  with  God.  God  help  us  to  follow  Him,  that  He  may 
bring  us  unto  Himself.  Amen. — John  Tauler  (1290-1361). 

Twelfth  Week,  Second  Day 

Take  heed,  brethren,  lest  haply  there  shall  be  in  any  one 
of  you  an  evil  heart  of  unbelief,  in  falling  away  from  the 
living  God:  but  exhort  one  another  day  by  day,  so  long 
as  it  is  called  To-day;  lest  any  one  of  you  be  hardened  by 
the  deceitfulness  of  sin:  for  we  are  become  partakers  of 
Christ,  if  we  hold  fast  the  beginning  of  our  confidence 
firm  unto  the  end. — Heb.  3:12-14. 

Evidently  this  writer  did  not  think  that  faith  in  God  or  the 
lack  of  it  was  a  small  matter ;  clearly  he  felt  the  large  concerns 
of  Christian  integrity  and  usefulness  to  be  at  stake.  Nor  has 
our  modern  naturalism  with  its  insistence  that  our  bodies,  not 
our  spirits,  are  the  spokesmen  of  ultimate,  creative  power, 
done  anything  to  mitigate  the  New  Testament's  serious  esti- 
mate of  unbelief.  One  naturalist  has  given  us  a  candid  pic- 

205 


[XII-3]  THE  MEAN IX G  OF  SERVICE 

ture  of  the  universe  in  which  he  lives :  "In  the  visible  world 
the  Milky  Way  is  a  tiny  fragment.  Within  this  fragment  the 
solar  system  is  an  infinitesimal  speck,  and  of  this  speck  our 
planet  is  a  microscopic  dot.  On  this  dot  tiny  lumps  of  impure 
carbon  and  water  crawl  about  for  a  few  years,  until  they 
dissolve  into  the  elements  of  which  they  are  compounded." 
On  such  a  world-view,  an  individual,  supported  by  the  social 
and  religious  influences  of  his  own  and  previous  generations, 
may  live  a  practically  useful  life.  But  suppose  that  all  men 
at  last  shared  this  world-view,  that  no  man  held  any  other, 
that  this  was  the  universally  accepted  philosophy  of  life.  Just 
how  much  enduring,  sacrificial  service  for  men's  salvation  ctnd 
the  hope  of  social  righteousness  would  persist  on  the  earth ? 

O  Lord,  our  Light  and  our  Salvation,  banish  the  night  of 
gloom  and  ignorance,  and  grant  to  those  in  doubt  the  illumina- 
tion of  truth  and  of  knowledge;  that  their  hope  may  be  firmly 
set  in  Thee,  and  the  assaults  of  malicious  foes  may  be  brought 
to  naught.  Establish  their  confidence  upon  a  rock  of  stone, 
that,  surely  grounded  in  the  faith  of  Christ,  they  may  be 
built  up  in  love  to  their  highest  perfection.  Amen. — "A  Book 
of  Prayers  for  Students." 

Twelfth  Week,  Third  Day 

Beloved,  let  us  love  one  another:  for  love  is  of  God; 
and  every  one  that  loveth  is  begotten  of  God,  and  knoweth 
God.  He  that  loveth  not  knoweth  not  God;  for  God  is 
love.  Herein  was  the  love  of  God  manifested  in  us,  that 
God  hath  sent  his  only  begotten  Son  into  the  world  that 
we  might  live  through  him.  Herein  is  love,  not  that  we 
loved  God,  but  that  he  loved  us,  and  sent  his  Son  to  be 
the  propitiation  for  our  sins.  Beloved,  if  God  so  loved 
us,  we  also  ought  to  love  one  another.  No  man  hath 
beheld  God  at  any  time:  if  we  love  one  another,  God 
abideth  in  us,  and  his  love  is  perfected  in  us:  hereby  we 
know  that  we  abide  in  him  and  he  in  us,  because  he  hath 
given  us  of  his  Spirit. — I  John  4:  7-13. 

John  here  expresses  one  of  the  immediate  consequences  of 
believing  in>  God.  He  is  assured  that  all  the  love  in  human 
life  is  begotten  of  God,  that  it  has  an  eternal  source  and 
backing,  that  it  is  not  thin,  surface  water  which  by  chance  has 
gathered  in  human  lives  but  that  it  has  behind  it  infinite 
reservoirs  and  ahead  of  it  infinite  destinies.  So  one  of  Crom- 

206 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-4] 

well's  men  said,  "It  was  a  great  instruction  that  the  best 
courages  are  but  beams  of  the  Almighty."  Granted  such  a 
faith,  the  self-denying  servant  of  his  fellows  is  sustained,  as  a 
sentry  is,  who  knows  that  around  his  humble  and  often 
monotonous  obedience  are  the  encompassing  movement  of  a 
great  army  and  the  supporting  plan  of  a  wise  commander.  A 
real  Christian  is  not  endeavoring  somehow  to  save  a  world 
fundamentally  unsavable.  He  is  endeavoring  to  make  his 
love  an  open  channel  down  which  the  Love  that  is  eternal  may 
flow  into  human  life. 

Grant  us,  we  beseech  Thee,  Almighty  and  most  Merciful 
God,  fervently  to  desire,  wisely  to  search  out,  and  perfectly  to 
fulfil,  all  that  is  well-pleasing  unto  Thee  this  day.  Order 
Thou  our  worldly  condition  to  the  glory  of  Thy  Name;  and, 
of  all  that  Thou  requirest  us  to  do,  grant  us  the  knowledge, 
the  desire,  and  the  ability,  that  we  may  so  fulfil  it  as  we 
ought;  and  may  our  path  to  Thee,  we  pray,  be  safe,  straight- 
forward, and  perfect  to  the  end.  Give  us,  O  Lord,  a  stead- 
fast heart,  which  no  unworthy  affection  may  drag  down- 
zi'ards;  give  us  an  unconquered  heart,  which  no  tribulation 
can  wear  out;  give  us  an  upright  heart,  which  no  unworthy 
purpose  may  tempt  aside.  Bestow  upon  us  also,  O  Lord  our 
God,  understanding  to  know  Thee,  diligence  to  seek  Thee, 
wisdom  to  find  Thee,  and  a  faithfulness  that  may  finally 
embrace  Thee;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — 
Thomas  Aquinas  (1225-1274). 

Twelfth  Week,  Fourth  Day 

And  Jesus  answered  and  said,  O  faithless  and  perverse 
generation,  how  long  shall  I  be  with  you?  how  long  shall 
I  bear  with  you?  bring  him  hither  to  me.  And  Jesus  re- 
buked him;  and  the  demon  went  out  of  him:  and  the  boy 
was  cured  from  that  hour. 

Then  came  the  disciples  to  Jesus  apart,  and  said,  Why 
could  not  we  cast  it  put?  And  he  saith  unto  them,  Be- 
cause of  your  little  faith:  for  verily  I  say  unto  you,  If  ye 
have  faith  as  a  grain  of  mustard  seed,  ye  shall  say  unto 
this  mountain,  Remove  hence  to  yonder  place;  and  it 
shall  remove ;  and  nothing  shall  be  impossible  unto  you. — 
Matt.  17:  17-20. 

Faith  in  God  is  not  simply,  as  we  have  said,  a  high  phil- 
osophy of  life,  a  savior  from  the  hopelessness  of  unbelief,  and 

207 


[XII-5]  THE  ME  AN  IX  G  OF  SERVICE 

a  sustaining  motive  for  patient  service.  It  is  also  a  source  of 
power  for  positive  achievement.  How  often  does  the  anxious 
servant  of  human  weal  face  mountains  that  must  be  re- 
moved !  Especially  in  mature  years,  when  with  unveiled  eyes 
we  long  have  looked  on  human  life,  its  sin,  its  waywardness, 
its  dull  unwillingness  even  to  wish  a  better  day,  its  resurgent 
evils  that  ruinously  flame  up  like  dead' volcanoes  come  to  life 
again,  it  is  not  easy  to  believe  in  great  possibilities  for  the 
|  race.  But  with  faith  in  God  this  conviction  always  is  in- 
I  volved :  what  ought  to  be  done,  can  be  done.  If  one  believe 
really  in  God — not  in  a  theoretical  analysis  of  deity  but  in  a 
basic  Fact  which  makes  the  universe  moral  through  and 
through — then  he  may  be  sure  that  ought  and  can  are  twins. 
To  say  that  what  ought  to  be  done  cannot  be  done  is  a  brief 
but  complete  confession  of  atheism ;  a  man  who  says  that 
does  not  believe  in  God. 

O  Lord,  in  these  difficult  times,  when  there  is  a  seeming 
opposition  of  knowledge  and  faith,  and  an  accumulation  of 
facts  beyond  the  power  of  the  human  mind  to  conceive;  and 
good  men  of  all  religions,  more  and  more,  meet  in  Thee ;  and 
the  strife  between  classes  in  society,  and  between  good  and 
evil  in  our  own  souls,  is  not  less  than  of  old;  and  the  love  of 
pleasure  and  the  desires  of  the  flesh  are  always  coming  in 
betzveen  us  and  Thee;  and  we  cannot  rise  above  these  things 
to  see  the  light  of  Heaven,  but  are  tossed  upon  a  sea  of 
troubles — we  pray  Thee  be  our  guide  and  strength  and  light, 
that,  looking  up  to  Thee  always,  we  may  behold  the  rock  on 
which  we  stand,  and  be  confident  in  the  word  which  Thou  hast 
spoken.  Amen. — Benjamin  Jowett. 

Twelfth  Week,  Fifth  Day 

Then  cometh  the  end,  when  he  shall  deliver  up  the  king- 
dom to  God,  even  the  Father;  when  he  shall  have  abol- 
ished all  rule  and  all  authority  and  power.  For  he  must 
reign,  till  he  hath  put  all  his  enemies  under  his  feet.  The 
last  enemy  that  shall  be  abolished  is  death.  For,  He  put 
all  things  in  subjection  under  his  feet.  But  when  he  saith, 
All  things  are  put  in  subjection,  it  is  evident  that  he  is 
excepted  who  did  subject  all  things  unto  him.  And  when 
all  things  have  been  subjected  unto  him,  then  shall  the  Son 
also  himself  be  subjected  to  him  that  did  subject  all  things 
unto  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all. — I  Cor.  15 : 24-28. 

208 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-6J 

The  need  for  a  vital  faith  in  God  is  further  seen  in  such  an 
expression  of  hope  in  final  victory  as  Paul  here  presents.  On 
the  naturalistic  basis  alone  there  is  neither  hope  nor  possibility 
of  any  crowning  triumph  of  righteousness.  On  the  naturalis- 
tic basis  alone  generation  after  generation  will  pour  out  toil 
and  sacrifice,  until  at  last  the  sun  will  grow  cold,  and  the 
vitality  of  the  physical  universe — which  to  the  naturalist 
philosopher  is  the  only  universe  there  is — will  fail.  Like  an 
ice-floe  from  the  northern  seas,  drifting  south  and  melting  as 
it  drifts,  our  habitable  earth  will  shrink.  And  like  polar 
bears  upon  that  melting  floe,  hopelessly  watching  the  wasting 
of  their  home,  humanity  will  see  its  inevitable  end  approach, 
until  it  is  finally  engulfed  and  lost.  That  is  the  only  expecta- 
tion which  naturalism  can  suggest  or  ever  has  suggested.  But 
faith  in  God  involves  confidence  in  ultimate  victory,  in  this 
world  or  in  another  or  in  both.  What  inspiration  to  service 
this  means !  Any  sacrifice  is  worth  while.  "He  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against  that 
day."  (II  Tim.  i :  12). 

O  Eternal  God,  the  Father  of  all  mankind,  in  whom  we  live 
and  move  and  have  our  being;  Have  mercy  on  the  whole 
human  race.  Pity  their  ignorance,  their  foolishness,  their 
zveakness,  their  sin.  Set  up  an  ensign  for  the  nations,  O 
Lord,  and  bring  them  to  Thy  glorious  rest.  Let  the  earth  be 
filled  with  the  knowledge  of  the  Lord  as  the  waters  cover  the 
sea.  Hasten  Thy  Kingdom,  O  Lord,  and  bring  in  everlasting 
righteousness,  for  the  honor  of  Thy  Son,  our  Lord  and 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  Amen. — "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God." 

Twelfth  Week,  Sixth  Day 

For  ye,  brethren,  were  called  for  freedom;  only  use  not 
your  freedom  for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh,  but  through  love 
be  servants  one  to  another. — Gal.  5:  13. 

Let  love  be  without  hypocrisy.  Abhor  that  which  is 
evil ;  cleave  to  that  which  is  good.  In  love  of  the  brethren 
be  tenderly  affectioned  one  to  another;  in  honor  preferring 
one  another. — Rom.  12:9,  10. 

The  Lord  make  you  to  increase  and  abound  in  love  one 
toward  another,  and  toward  all  men,  even  as  we  also  do 
toward  you. — I  Thess.  3:  12. 

But  concerning  love  of  the  brethren  ye  have  no  need 
that  one  write  unto  you:  for  ye  yourselves  are  taught  of 
God  to  love  one  another. — I  Thess.  4:9. 

209 


[XII-6]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Seeing  ye  have  purified  your  souls  in  your  obedience  to 
the  truth  unto  unfeigned  love  of  the  brethren,  love  one 
another  from  the  heart  fervently. — I  Peter  i :  22. 

He  that  loveth  his  brother  abideth  in  the  light,  and  there 
is  no  occasion  of  stumbling  in  him. — I  John  2 : 10. 

Consider  how  continuous  is  the  emphasis  on  serviceable 
love  in  the  New  Testament !  But  no  one  can  tear  such  verses 
loose  from  their  entanglement  with  faith  in  God  and  immortal- 
ity. These  folk  who  love  one  another  in  that  first  century 
Church  are  all  intent  on  strengthening  one  another's  faith 
and  deepening  one  another's  spiritual  experience.  One  reason 
for  this  indivisible  relationship  of  love  and  faith  is  that  to 
the  writers  of  the  New  Testament  the  supreme  service  which 
love  could  render  to  another  was  the  quickening  and  deepen- 
ing of  faith.  People  need  bread,  health,  homes ;  a  multitude 
of  practical  ministries  the  New  Testament  is  concerned  about ; 
but  above  all  else  people  need  God,  and  to  make  him  real,  to 
illumine  the  path  to  him  by  godly  living,  to  win  to  Christian 
trust  and  spiritual  victory  an  unbelieving  man — that,  in  the 
eyes  of  the  New  Testament,  is  the  supreme  service.  The 
Master  ministered  to  men  by  every  avenue  of  need  he  could 
discover;  but  his  supreme  ministry  lies  in  his  revelation  of 
God,  for  in  that  he  met  the  deepest  need  of  man.  Men  are 
hungry  for  this  bestowal  of  faith  and  confidence  upon  their 
spiritual  lives.  Said  Tennyson  on  his  eightieth  birthday :  "I 
do  not  know  what  I  have  done  that  so  many  people  should  feel 
grateful  to  me,  except  that  I  have  always  kept  my  faith  in  im- 
mortality." To  keep  Christian  faith,  to  be  assured  of  its 
truth,  to  make  it  in  life  convincing  and  challenging,  and  to 
win  people  to  see  it  and  accept  it — that  is  service  at  its  climax. 

O  Thou  God  of  infinite  mercy  and  compassion,  in  whose 
hands  are  all  the  hearts  of  the  sons  of  men,  look,  ive  beseech 
Thee,  graciously  upon  the  darkened  souls  of  the  multitudes 
who  know  not  Thee.  Enlighten  them  with  the  saving  knozvl- 
edge  of  the  truth.  Let  the  beams  of  Thy  Gospel  break  forth 
upon  them,  and  bring  them  to  a, sound  belief  in  Thee;  God 
manifested  in  flesh.  Bring  in  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles; 
gather  together  the  outcasts  of  Israel,  and  make  Thy  Name 
known  over  all  the  earth.  Grant  this,  through  Jesus  Christ. 
Amen. — Bishop  Hall  (1574-1656). 

210 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-;] 

Twelfth  Week,  Seventh  Day 

What  then  shall  we  say  to  these  things?  If  God  is  for 
us,  who  is  against  us?  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son, 
but  delivered  him  up  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  also  with 
him  freely  give  us  all  things?  Who  shall  lay  anything  to 
the  charge  of  God's  elect?  It  is  God  that  justifieth;  who 
is  he  that  condemneth?  It  is  Christ  Jesus  that  died,  yea 
rather,  that  was  raised  from  the  dead,  who  is  at  the  right 
hand  of  God,  who  also  maketh  intercession  for  us.  Who 
shall  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ?  shall  tribula- 
tion, or  anguish,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness, 
or  peril,  or  sword?  Even  as  it  is  written, 

For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long; 
We  were  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter. 

Nay,  in  all  these  things  we  are  more  than  conquerors 
through  him  that  loved  us.  For  I  am  persuaded,  that 
neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels,  nor  principalities,  nor 
things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  powers,  nor  height, 
nor  depth,  nor  any  other  creature,  shall  be  able  to  separate 
us  from  the  love  of  God,  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord. — Rom.  8:31-39. 

What  a  triumphant  personality  Paul  was !  And  what  a 
source  of  triumphant  personality  have  thousands  like  Paul 
found  in  the  faith  and  fellowship  of  him  who  said :  "Be  of 
good  cheer ;  I  have  overcome  the  world."  When  one  asks 
what  religion  has  to  do  with  service,  this  answer  is  plain — 
the  most  useful  gift  which  anyone  can  bring  to  the  world  is  a 
triumphant  life,  and  the  sources  of  that  lie  deep  in  a  spiritual 
experience  of  God.  The  fundamental  failure  of  mankind  is 
spiritual;  the  basic  need  of  man  is  inward  life,  abundant,  un- 
discourageable,  victorious. 

"It  takes  a  soul 

To  move  a  body :  it  takes  a  high-souled  man, 
To  move  the  masses — even  to  a  cleaner  stye ; 
It  takes  the  ideal,  to  blow  a  hair's  breadth  off 
The  dust  of  the  actual." 

To  give  people  things  may  leave  them  much  as  they  were  be- 
fore; but  to  have  personality  to  bestow,  radiant,  triumphant, 
contagious — that  not  only  changes  circumstances,  it  changes 
men. 

2M 


[XII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

Religious  faith  supplies  to  service  elements  not  easily  dis- 
pensable :  an  idealistic  interpretation  of  life,  salvation  from 
the  deadening  hopelessness  of  unbelief,  a  sustaining  motive 
for  patient  service,  dynamic  power  for  achievement,  reason- 
able basis  for  expecting  victory,  a  spiritual  message  necessary 
to  meet  man's  deepest  need,  and  resources  to  make  possible 
triumphant  personality. 

O  Faithful  Lord,  grant  to  us,  we  pray  Thee,  faithful  hearts 
devoted  to  Thee,  and  to  the  service  of  all  men  for  Thy  sake. 
Fill  us  with  pure  love  of  Thee,  keep  us  steadfast  in  this  love, 
give  us  faith  that  worketh  by  love,  and  preserve  us  faithful 
unto  death;  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  Amen. — Chris- 
tina G.  Rossetti. 

COMMENT   FOR   THE   WEEK 

I 

Throughout  our  study  we  have  been  dealing  with  many 
ministries  of  practical  helpfulness  in  which  a  Christian  spirit 
ought  rightfully  to  overflow.  But  the  most  serviceable  gift 
f  which  any  man  can  give  the  world  is  a  radiant  and  inwardly 
i victorious  personality.  The  long  missionary  journeys  of 
Francis  Xavier,  his  tireless  labors,  his  inexhaustible  devotion, 
his  fearlessness  of  the  face  of  mortal  clay,  have  all  been  cele- 
brated as  they  deserve  to  be.  But  one  gains  an  insight  into 
Xavier's  quality  which  no  record  of  outward  ministry  can 
give  when  he  reads  the  words  of  a  contemporary :  "Sometimes 
it  happened  that  if  any  of  the  brothers  were  sad,  the  way  they 
took  to  become  happy  was  to  go  and  look  at  him."  Such 
service,  springing  not  so  much  from  what  a  man  does  as 
from  what  he  is,  is  the  richest  contribution  which  anyone 
can  make  to  life. 

This  consideration  at  once  gives  pause  to  that  glib  and 
superficial  readiness  with  which  too  many  people  propose  for 
themselves  a  life  of  helpfulness.  "Ach,  man,"  they  say  in 
Goethe's  words,  "you  need  only  blow  on  your  hands !" 
Granted  a  little  good  will  and  energy,  they  think,  and  any- 
one who  wishes  can  be  useful.  But  not  even  such  simple 
ministries  as  the  Master  named  in  his  parable  of  the  judgment 
(Matt.  25:31-46)  can  in  such  a  spirit  be  well  rendered. 
To  feed  the  hungry,  to  clothe  the  naked,  and  to  give  drink 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-c] 

to  the  thirsty  are  outward  deeds,  which  by  a  thrust  of  will 
can  be  performed.  But  how  deeply  and  permanently  one  will 
help  people  by  these  ministries  depends  on  invisible  accom- 
paniments which  are  not  to  be  had  by  blowing  on  one's  hands. 
The  same  outward  gift  may  leave  the  recipient  in  one  case 
angry  and  humiliated,  in  another  cold  and  thankless,  in  an- 
other comforted  and  inspired.  "When  I  have  attempted  to 
give  myself  to  others  by  services,"  said  Emerson,  "it  proved 
an  intellectual  trick — no  more.  They  eat  your  service  like 
apples  and  leave  you  out.  But  love  them  and  they  feel  you, 
and  delight  in  you  all  the  time."  Not  till  the  humblest  min- 
istry is  thus  made  spiritually  significant  by  the  personality  be- 
hind it,  is  full-orbed  service  rendered. 

"Not  what  we  give,  but  what  we  share, 
For  the  gift  without  the  giver  is  bare; 
Who  gives  himself  with  his  alms  feeds  three, 
Himself,  his  hungering  neighbor,  and  me." 

If  this  be  true  even  of  such  external  deeds  as  supplying 
food,  drink,  and  clothing,  what  shall  be  said  of  the  Master's 
next  example  of  helpfulness?  "I  was  sick  and  ye  came  unto 
me."  Some  strong,  successful  friend,  with  years  of  promising 
activity  ahead  of  him,  suddenly  breaks  down  in  health.  His 
capacity  to  work  is  exhausted ;  his  plans  have  crashed  in  ruin 
about  his  head ;  and  you,  aware  of  that,  go  up  to  help  him 
"carry  on."  Is  that  a  ministry  to  be  lightly  turned  off? 
Rather  you  stand,  humiliated  and  afraid,  on  your  friend's 
door-sill.  Yesterday  you  may  have  been  self-complacent,  but 
today  you  are  miserable  over  your  own  weakness  and  futility. 
God  in  heaven,  you  pray,  give  me  a  stronger  faith,  a  richer 
spirit !  My  friend  needs  me  at  my  best  and  what  have  I  to 
give? 

Nothing  so  humbles  a  man,  so  reveals  to  him  the  poverty  of 
his  own  spirit,  so  throws  him  back  on  God  for  a  renewed  and 
enriched  life,  as  the  serious  attempt  to  be  of  use  to  other 
people.  Christ  introduces  us  to  a  life  of  service,  and  then  in 
recoil  a  life  of  service  sends  us  back  to  Christ  and  to  the 
God  whom  he  reveals  for  those  full,  spiritual  reservoirs  from 
which  alone  life-giving  service  flows.  "Young  man,"  said 
Tolstoi  to  an  eager,  youthful  reformer,  "you  sweat  too  much 
blood  for  the  world ;  sweat  some  for  yourself  first.  . 

213 


[XII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

If  you  want  to  make  the  world  better  you  have  to  be  the  best 
you  can.  .  .  .  You  cannot  bring  the  Kingdom  of  God 
into  the  world  until  you  bring  it  into  your  own  heart  first." 

Anyone  who  is  endeavoring-  to  catch  the  spirit  of  the  most 
serviceable  life  that  ever  ministered  to  men  cannot  avoid  the 
fact  that  quality  of  personality  is  the  supreme  contribution 
which  the  world  needs,  without  which  any  other  gift  is  of 
minor  worth.  The  Master's  care  for  the  poor  and  sick,  his 
practical  service  to  the  physical  needs  of  men,  are  examples 
not  to  be  surpassed  of  tireless  interest  in  the  concrete,  homely 
wants  of  man's  daily  life.  But  all  these  services  have  had 
permanent  significance  for  mankind  and  the  bestower  of  them 
has  taken  possession  of  the  realm  of  service,  as  its  acknowl- 
edged exemplar  and  master,  just  because  all  these  concrete 
services  flowed  from  a  personality  rich  with  those  spiritual 
goods  without  which  men  cannot  live. 

The  ultimate  secret  of  the  Master's  greatness  in  service  the 
Fourth  Gospel  gives  us  in  an  illuminating  passage :  "Jesus, 
knowing  that  the  Father  had  given  all  things  into  his  hands, 
and  that  he  came  forth  from  God,  and  goeth  unto  God,  riseth 
from  supper,  and  layeth  aside  his  garments ;  and  he  took  a 
towel  and  girded  himself.  Then  he  poureth  water  into  the 
basin  and  began  to  wash  the  disciples'  feet"  (John  13:3-5). 
What  an  extraordinary  preparation  for  a  very  humble  act  of 
service !  Aware  of  illimitable  spiritual  wealth,  he  took  basin 
and  towel  and  like  a  household  slave  washed  his  disciples' 
feet.  One's  first  impression  is  that  an  immense  disparity 
exists  between  the  Master's  lofty  consciousness  and  his  lowly 
deed.  One's  second  impression  is  that  we  recall  that  lowly 
deed  these  twenty  centuries  afterwards,  see  it  still  as  a  symbol 
of  self-forgetful  service,  flooded  with  such  rememberable 
dignity  that  we  are  always  humbled  and  chastened  by  its 
recollection,  just  because  of  the  lofty  heights  of  personality 
from  which  it  flowed.  The  two  parts  of  that  passage  do  be- 
long together.  It  was  the  personality  behind  the  deed  that 
made  the  deed  unforgetable.  The  window  of  that  humble 
service  was  very  small,  but  what  a  radiant  sun  was  shining 
through  it  to  make  it  glorious  forever ! 

When,  therefore,  we  have  said  all  that  may  be  said  of  the 
Christian's  obligation  to  serve  his  fellows  in  every  ministry 
that  their  most  lowly  needs  require,  we  must  stress  this  central 
service  which  lies  behind  and  gives  abiding  value  to  all  other 

214 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-c] 

ministries  whatsoever.  Above  all  else  men  need  contact  with 
personalities  who  infectiously  re-create  faith  and  courage,  and 
inspire  confidence  in  God  and  man.  Above  all  else  the  dis- 
heartened spirits  of  ordinary  folk,  "laggard,  fearsome,  and 
thin-ranked,"  need  the  rallying  impact  of  men  whose  vision  and 
faith  make  them  unafraid.  A  youth,  now  a  professor  at 
Harvard  University,  once  sought  Phillips  Brooks  for  an  inter- 
view on  a  problem  that  had  long  perplexed  him.  With  care? 
ful  thought  he  phrased  his  question  that  he  might  surely  ask 
it  right.  When  the  long  anticipated  day  arrived  he  spent  a 
radiant  hour  with  Phillips  Brooks.  He  came  out  from  it 
transfigured,  life  glorious  again;  until  at  last  as  he  went  up 
Beacon  Street  toward  home,  it  dawned  on  him  that  he  had 
clean  forgotten  to  ask  Phillips  Brooks  that  question.  "But," 
he  says,  "I  did  not  care.  I  had  found  out  that  what  I  needed 
was  not  the  solution  of  a  special  problem,  but  the  contagion 
of  a  triumphant  spirit."  That  is  still  the  supreme  need  of  the 
world.  To  supply  that  need  is  the  richest  gift  that  any  man 
can  bestow. 

Ill 

Not  only  does  the  ultimate  significance  of  personal  service 
thus  depend  upon  quality  of  personality ;  the  final  efficiency 
of  social  service  also  springs  from  the  same  fountain.  We 
have  rightly  emphasized  the  importance  to  the  normal  and 
wholesome  life  of  man  of  social  and  economic,  readjustments. 
But  such  readjustments  cannot  in  the  first  instance  be  ob- 
tained, nor  once  secured  can  they  be  preserved,  unless  they 
have  their  natural  source  in  an  inward,  spiritual  life,  whose 
appropriate  expressions  they  are.  Of  anything  that  happens  in 
the  social  life  of  man,  however  vast  its  range  or  external  its 
circumstance,  the  words  of  the  prophet  are  true :  "I  will 
bring  evil  upon  this  people,  even  the  fruit  of  their  thoughts" 
(Jer.  6:19). 

What,  for  example,  is  the  ultimate  source  of  the  catastrophe 
from  whose  aftermath  this  generation  cannot  escape?  Poli- 
ticians will  explain  the  trouble,  doubtless  with  some  truth,  in 
diplomatic  maladjustments.  Economists  will  explain  the 
War's  source,  doubtless  truthfully,  as  due  to  economic  mal- 
adjustments. But  to  prophetic  insight  such  explanations  are 
as  incomplete  as  though  a  man  in  New  Orleans  should  account 
for  the  Mississippi  River  by  saying  that  it  came  from  Mem- 

215 


[XII-cl  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

phis,  or  a  man  in  Memphis  should  explain  it  by  saying  that 
St.  Louis  was  its  source.  They  speak  truly  enough  so  far  as 
they  go,  but  they  have  not  traced  the  river  back  to  its  ulti- 
mate origin.  It  really  rises  from  many  springs  far  up  in  the 
Rockies.  So,  high  up  among  the  mountains  of  our  human 
life,  a  prophetic  spirit  sees,  innumerable  and  obscure,  the  in- 
ner thoughts  of  multitudes  of  folk,  the  quality  of  their  spirits, 
.the  emphasis  of  their  desires,  from  which,  as  from  many 
fountains  blending,  flow  down  the  resultant  destinies  of 
humankind.  No  matter  how  vast  the  public  consequence  with 
which  he  deals,  he  traces  back  the  creative  source  of  it  to 
these  springs  in  the  habitual  thinking  of  the  people. 

Behind  this  generation's  cataclysm  one  sees  clearly  the 
group  of  old  ideas,  inveterately  held,  which  brought  on  the 
dire  disaster.  That  war  is  necessary,  inextricably  woven  into 
the  fabric  of  international  relationships ;  that  the  ethic  of 
good  will  and  cooperation  is  applicable  to  individuals  but  not 
to  states;  that  economic  supremacy  can  be  achieved  by  or- 
ganized violence ;  that  nations  must  always  go  on  raising 
vast  armies,  building  vast  armaments,  teaching  all  their  youth 
to  kill,  and  laying  greedy  hands  on  each  new  invention  to  make 
gregarious  death  more  swift  and  horrible ;  that  war  is  not 
only  inevitable  but  desirable,  a  valuable  tonic  to  man's  moral 
life — such  are  the  ideas  out  of  which  our  catastrophe  has 
come.  And  if  repeatedly  such  disasters  are  not  to  fall  upon 
the  world,  something  more  than  new  arrangements  of  diplo- 
matic and  economic  affairs  must  be  achieved.  There  must  be 
a  widespread,  deep-seated,  popular  repentance  of  the  old  ideas 
and  a  resolute  renunciation  of  them.  In  international  affairs 
as  well  as  in  personal  character,  out  of  the  heart  are  the 
issues  of  life  (Prov.  4:23). 

So,  to  a  man  of  insight,  the  noisy,  angry  busyness  of  the 
world,  with  its  economic  upheavals  and  its  crashing  armies, 
often  seems  illusion,  through  which  as  through  a  transparent 
veil  one  looks  into  the  reality  behind.  And  this  is  the  reality : 
the  minds  of  men  and  women  like  inward  looms,  where  the 
tirelessly  moving  shuttles  of  our  habitual  thinking  weave  the 
texture  of  our  human  destinies. 

The  ultimate  service,  therefore,  without  which  any  other 
ministries  are  little  worth,  is  spiritual.  It  consists  in  the  spread- 
ing of  information,  in  the  teaching  of  truth,  in  the  inspiration 
of  faith,  in  the  contagious  bestowal  of  clean  hearts  and  right 

216 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-c] 

spirits.  Lacking  such  service,  all  confidence  in  the  mere 
manipulation  of  outward  circumstances  is  living  in  a  fool's 
paradise.  An  American  believes  in  democracy.  Yet  many 
nations,  having  constitutions  like  his  own,  still  are  the  un- 
stable victims  of  continual  revolution.  It  is  not  so  much  the 
constitution  that  saves  the  country  as  it  is  the  quality  of  man- 
hood that  makes  the  constitution  work.  An  American  be- 
lieves in  the  abolition  of  the  liquor  traffic.  Yet  the  Turks 
have  lived  under  a  regime  where  the  liquor  traffic  is  forbid- 
den, from  the  days  of  the  prophet  until  now,  and  by  that  fact 
alone  have  not  been  saved  to  greatness  of  personal  and  na- 
tional character.  An  internationalist  believes  in  a  league  of 
nations.  But  he  should  not  forget  that  such  a  league  will  be 
the  most  extensive  experiment  in  cooperation  ever  tried ;  that 
it  will  put  an  unprecedented  strain  upon  tolerance,  patience, 
good  will,  and  faith;  that  such  forty-story  buildings  cannot 
be  erected  safely  on  three-story  foundations.  An  industrial 
reformer  believes  in  more  leisure  for  the  workingmen.  But 
he  should  recall  that  there  has  been  leisure  in  plenty  in  the 
South  Sea  Islands  for  many  generations,  with  little  to  do 
save  to  pluck  fruit  and  to  eat  it  in  the  shade,  but  that  no 
great  consequence  for  human  weal  ever  came  from  such 
spare  time.  Whether  for  employer  or  employe,  it  is  one  thing 
to  achieve  outward  leisure;  it  is  another  thing  to  achieve  that 
quality  of  character  which  will  make  good  use  of  it.  We  may 
well  be  concerned  lest,  enthusiastic  for  outward  reforms,  we 
in  the  end  achieve  them — and  get  nothing.  For  outward  re- 
forms have  permanence  only  when  they  proceed  from,  are 
i  sustained  by,  and  issue  in  personality  redeemed  to  wisdom 
and  truth,  to  God  and  godliness. 

Napoleon,  so  the  story  runs,  was  once  told  that  French  let- 
ters were  showing  signs  of  decay  under  his  regime,  and  that 
a  renaissance  of  creative  literature  was  needed.  "So!"  said 
the  Emperor.  "I  will  speak  to  the  Minister  of  the  Interior 
about  it."  Creative  literature  from  a  department  of  state! 
"King  Lear,"  or  the  "Ode  to  the  West  Wind,"  or  "Intima- 
tions of  Immortality"  by  order  of  the  Minister  of  the  Interior! 
Yet  one  may  as  reasonably  expect  that,  as  to  expect  creative 
character  from  the  mere  manipulation  of  outward  circum- 
stance. Creative  character  comes  from  the  deep  fountains  of: 
I  spiritual  life;  changed  circumstance  gives  it  free  room  for 
•utterance.  The  deepest  service  that  one  man  can  do  for  others, 

217 


[XII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

therefore,  is  to  minister  to  the  spiritual  sources  of  life,  in- 
wardly to  change  their  minds,  to  make  great  faiths  real  and 
great  ideals  convincing,  to  establish  for  them  vital  contacts 
with  the  spiritual  world,  to  bring  them  into  transforming 
fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ 

IV 

Not  only  are  personal  and  social  service  thus  dependent  for 
their  final  efficiency  upon  the  quality  of  man's  inward  life, 
but  the  persistence  of  service  itself,  in  any  form  whatever, 
rests  back  at  last  upon  that  indispensable  foundation.  The 
streets  are  full  of  people  who  started  out  to  be  of  use.  They, 
too,  had  a  youth  when  knighthood  was  in  flower,  but  they 
have  fallen  now  into  disillusioned  uselessness.  Like  automo- 
biles with  good  self-starters  they  were  off  and  away  with 
fleet  eagerness  to  serve  the  world,  but  they  have  petered  out 
in  a  sandy  stretch  or  have  gone  dead  on  a  high  hill.  The 
Master's  thumb-nail  sketch  in  the  Parable  of  the  Builder  fits 
them  exactly :  "This  man  began  to  build  but  was  not  able  to 
finish"  (Luke  14:30). 

This  aspect  of  the  problem  of  a  serviceable  life  is  one  of 
the  most  serious  that  men  face  now,  as  it  was  when  Jesus  was 
on  earth.  He  was  not  always  met  by  callous  selfishness, 
that  grossly  rebuffed  his  appeal  and  scorned  his  teaching. 
Plenty  of  people  were  swept  off  their  feet  by  his  presence, 
were  stirred  by  swift  and  eager  emotion  at  his  words,  but  how 
much  of  this  enthusiasm  turned  out  to  be  bubbling  efferves- 
cence !  It  had  no  substance  in  it,  no  abiding  motives  to  give 
it  permanence.  Like  seed  in  shallow  soil,  as  he  pictured  it, 
"there  was  no  deepness  of  root."  So  to  this  day  the  life  of 
Jesus  is  too  alluring,  the  ideals  of  Jesus  too  challenging,  the 
first  chivalrous  endeavors  in  unselfishness  too  rewarding,  not 
to  lead  many  folk  to  accept  gladly  the  life  which  he  proposes. 
But  the  course  of  true  service  does  not  run  smooth.  People 
whom  we  try  to  help,  turn  out  to  be  obstinate,  ungrateful,  in- 
corrigible. They  return  evil  for  good.  They  cling  to  the 
very  conditions  from  which  we  try  to  save  them.  The  most 
gracious  spirit  is  at  times  tempted  to  cry  with  Keats :  "I  ad- 
mire human  nature,  but  I  do  not  like  men."  To  one  who  has 
centered  his  hopes  on  social  causes,  how  laggard  their  pro.- 
gress  often  seems,  how  roundabout  and  hard  bestead  is  the 

218 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-c] 

wilderness  journey  to  the  Promised  Land!  It  has  been  said 
of  Alpine  peaks  that  they  pass  through  three  stages :  first, 
"absolutely  inaccessible" ;  second,  "a  very  dangerous  climb" ; 
third,  "  a  pleasant  summer  excursion."  But  how  long  do  the 
heights  of  social  reformation  have  to  wait  before  they  thus 
are  climbed  and  conquered ! 

The  upshot  of  it  is  that  of  all  who  start  to  live  lives  of 
Christian  service,  one  suspects  that  only  a  small  proportion 
carry  through.  Launchings  are  a  gala  sight.  Amid  cheers 
and  music  the  ship,  gay  with  color,  takes  to  the  sea.  But 
every  old  salt  knows  that  launching  is  not  the  test  of  a  ship. 
When  northeasters  howl  and  billows  roll  mast  high,  will  she 
beat  up  against  the  tempest  and  make  port  when  other  ships 
,go  down?  Such  is  the  severe  strain  to  which  man's  wicked- 
ness, ignorance,  thanklessness,  his  sluggishness,  blindness, 
apathy,  subject  a  life  of  service.  The  final  resource  of  a 
serviceable  man  must  be  his  own  inwardly  -victorious  spirit, 
sustained  by  motives  which  wear  well,  by  unsmothered  faiths, 
and  by  hopes  which  refuse  to  grow  dim.  Only  a  personality 
so  equipped  can  easily  see  through  to  a  triumphant  close  a 
life  of  sustained  and  sacrificial  ministry. 


With  the  ultimate  efficiency  and  the  abiding  power  of  per- 
sonal and  social  service  thus  depending  upon  inward  spiritual 
resources,  it  is  plain  that  not  only  does  Christianity  overflow 
in  usefulness,  but  usefulness  has  need  of  all  those  sustaining 
and  life-giving  Christian  faiths  by  which  spiritual  victory  is 
gained  in  the  souls  of  men.  The  final  tragedy  in  human  life 
is  not  physical  poverty  but  whipped  spirits,  and  whipped 
spirits  are  found  on  avenues  as  well  as  alleys,  in  palaces  as 
well  as  hovels,  in  universities  as  well  as  barrooms.  Men  are 
beaten  in  spirit  by  the  hugeness  of  the  physical  universe, 
until  they  think  of  it  as  a  vast,  pitiless  machine,  without 
spiritual  origin,  meaning,  purpose,  or  destiny.  Men  are 
beaten  by  trouble  until,  maimed  at  the  very  center  of  their 
lives,  they  crawl  through  existence  without  God  and  without 
hope.  Men  are  beaten  in  spirit  by  sin,  and,  like  dogs  that 
return  to  lick  the  hand  that  flogged  them,  these  bewitched 
souls  come  back  again  and  again  to  the  transgressions  that 
are  their  ruin.  Men  are  beaten  in  spirit  by  hopelessness,  until 

219 


[XII-c]  THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

they  look  out  on  the  social  life  of  man  with  no  enthusiasm 
for  any  cause  and  with  no  expectation  of  any  betterment. 

Service  to  these  victims  of  spiritual  disillusionment,  in- 
fidelity, and  hopelessness  cannot  be  rendered  by  man's  fingers 
only.  No  thing  that  can  be  given  greatly  helps.  Only  spirits 
who  are  themselves  victorious  can  minister  to  these  deepest 
needs  of  men.  Alice  Freeman  Palmer,  first  president  of 
Wellesley  College,  was  once  reproved  because  she  did  not  do 
more  public  lecturing;  to  which,  out  of  her  passion  for  per- 
sonal service,  she  replied :  "It  is  people  that  count.  You 
want  to  put  yourself  into  people;  they  touch  other  people; 
these,  others  still,  and  so  you  go  on  working  forever."  We 
easily  applaud  that  program  of  service  by  personal  contagion. 
But  we  may  well  inquire  what  richness  of  personality  we 
possess  that  the  world  should  greatly  care  whether  or  not  we 
put  our  selves  into  people.  How  many  who  eagerly  give 
themselves,  have  selves  to  give,  so  poor  in  quality,  that  for  all 
their  busyness  the  world  is  none  the  richer !  The  Master 
looked  on  service  as  too  deep  and  inward  an  enterprise  lightly 
to  be  undertaken.  "For  their  sakes"  he  said,  "/  sanctify 
myself." 

Sir  Bartle  Frere  was  coming  to  visit  a  Scotch  home.  The 
master  of  the  household,  sending  a  servant  to  meet  him, 
sought  for  some  description  by  which  the  visitor  might  easily 
be  recognized.  "When  the  train  comes  in,"  he  said  at  last  to 
the  servant,  "you  will  see  a  tall  gentleman,  helping  somebody," 
That,  in  parable,  is  the  Christian  ideal.  Over  these  sixty  gen- 
erations one  Figure  has  towered,  from  the  fascination  and 
dominance  of  whose  personality  mankind  never  can  escape. 
Height  and  helpfulness  in  him  were  perfectly  combined.  And 
the  world  has  come  to  recognize  his  spirit,  living  again  on 
earth,  whenever  there  appears  spiritual  altitude  blending  with 
lowly  service — a  tall  gentleman,  helping  somebody. 

The  issue  of  this  line  of  thought,  however,  is  not  a  life  which 
seeks  first  to  be  right  and  then  to  go  out  to  serve.  Victorious 
personality  and  practical  service  cannot  be  so  chronologically 
arranged.  They  grow  together,  are  mutually  influential,  are 
indispensable  each  to  the  other's  health  and  wholeness.  As 
one  reads  the  New  Testament  he  becomes  aware  that  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  (6:4,  5)  gives  a  true  description  of 
the  fully  Christian  life  of  the  first  generation,  and  that  the 
climax  of  this  description  is  the  gist  of  the  matter:  those 

220 


VICTORIOUS  PERSONALITY  [XII-c] 

first  Christians  had  "tasted  ...  the  powers  of  the  age  to 
come."  They  believed  in  a  new  day  of  righteousness  to  ap- 
pear upon  the  earth,  when  God's  long-maturing  plans  would 
come  to  glorious  fulfilment.  That  coming  age  they  loved,  to 
its  ideals  they  were  devoted,  for  it  they  would  die.  They 
were  patriots  for  a  day  not  yet  arrived. 

One  outstanding  distinction,  therefore,  between  Christians 
and  non-Christians  in  the  first  generation  lay  here:  like 
Demas,  non-Christians  "loved  this  present  age"  (II  Tim. 
4:10),  with  all  its  unconquered  evil,  while  the  followers  of 
Jesus  were  working  and  waiting  for  the  age  to  come.  If  one 
would  be  a  Christian,  then,  he  must  in  this  sense  be  a  revolu- 
tionist :  he  must  have  his  heart  set  on  a  new  order  of  hu- 
manity where  godliness,  righteousness,  and  brotherhood  shall 
have  superseded  the  reign  of  bitterness  and  wrath.  He  must 
believe  in,  pray  for,  and  labor  toward  the  coming  of  God's 
Kingdom  in  the  world.  This  is  the  central  passion  of  a  fully 
Christian  life,  its  guiding  star,  its  regulating  standard. 

If  that  supreme  patriotism  for  a  better  world,  divinely  or- 
dered, "rooted  and  grounded  in  love,"  once  does  take  intelli- 
gent possession  of  a  human  life,  impressive  consequences  are 
certain :  personal  penitence  for  sin  that  hinders  the  Kingdom's 
coming,  personal  desire  for  inward  life  worthy  of  the  King- 
dom's ideals,  personal  entrance  into  secrets  of  spiritual  power 
by  which  alone  the  Kingdom's  coming  is  assured,  personal 
devotion  to  every  good  cause  by  which  the  day  of  Christian 
triumph  is  hastened.  Victorious  personality  is  not  the  fruit 
of  cloistered  piety.  It  is  the  accompaniment  of  full  devotion 
to  God's  Kingdom : 

"I  ask  no  heaven  till  earth  be  Thine; 
No  glory  crown  while  work  of  mine 
Remaineth  here. 

When  earth  shall  shine  among  the  stars, 
Her  sins  wiped  out,  her  captives  free, 
Her  voice  a  music  unto  Thee, 
For  crown,  more  work  give  Thou  to  me. 
Lord,  here  am  I !" 


221 


SCRIPTURE  PASSAGES  USED  IN  THE   DAILY 
READINGS 

RUTH  1:14-18  (V-6). 

ECCLESIASTES  i :  i2-i8  (IX~3). 

ISAIAH  i :  11-17  (1-2)  ;  2:2-4  (VIIT-6)  ;  3:  14,  15  (X-3)  ;  19: 

23-25  (IX-4);  62:1-5  (VIII-5). 
JEREMIAH  7:3-11   (1-5). 

EZEKIEL  22:29  (X-3)  ;  33:30-32  (1-6)  ;  34=  i-io  (VIII-7). 
HOSEA  6:4-6  (1-4). 
AMOS  2:6-8   (X-3);  5:21-24  (1-3). 
MICAH  6:6-8  (I-i)  ;  7:2-7  (XI-s). 
MATTHEW  5:13    (11-5)  ',   5:13-16    (X-6)  :   5:21,  22   (VI-3)  ; 

5:23,  24  (II-2) ;  5:29,  30  (V-i);  5:43-45  (VI-7) ;  6:9-13 

(X-7);  7  =  3-5  (VII-3);  8:1-4  (VIII-2) ;  8:18-20  (VII- 

5);  11:7-11  (VII-6);  12:43-45  (H-6)  ;  13:44-46  (V-2)  ; 

16:21-25    (V-7);    17:     17-20    (XII-4);    18:2-6    (VI-s)  ; 

18:10-14   (VI-6);  20:20-28   (VII-7);  21:12,  13   (VI-4)  ; 

22:34-40    (VI-i);    23:5-12    (III-5) ;    23:15-19,    23,    24 

(1-7);  25:34-40  (VIII-3). 
MARK  5:1-5    (II-3)  ;  9:50   (H-5)  ',   10:13-16    (VIII-i)  ;   10: 

23-27  (III-6). 
LUKE  4: 16-21  (II-i)  ;  5: 10,  n,  27,  28  (V-s) ;  6:31  (VI-i)  ; 

8:11-15   (II-7)  ;  10:30-37  (II-4)  ;  12:16-21    (III-3)  ;  15: 

1-7    (VIII-4);    16:19-26    (III-2);    18:9-14    (III-7)  ;    19: 

8-10  (V-4)  ;  21 : 1-4  (V-3). 
JOHN  4:35-38  (XI-i);  8:3-11  (VI-2)  ;  10:9,  10  (IV-7)  ;  14: 

25-27  (IV-4);  15:9-11   (IV-4);  15:12-15  (IV-i). 
ROMANS  1:8-12  (IV-3)  ;  6:12,  13  (IX-6)  ;  8:31-39  (XII-7)  ; 

12:3-5  (VII-4);  12:9,  10  (XII-6). 

I  CORINTHIANS    1:11-15    (XI-2) ;    3:6-9    (IX-2) ;    15:24-28 

XII-5). 

II  CORINTHIANS  8:1-5   (IX-5). 
GALATIANS  5:13   (XII-6);  6:2,  3   (VII-4). 
EPHESIANS  3:14-19   (IV-s). 

PHILIPPIANS  2:  1-4  (VII-2)  ;  3: 13-19  (IX-7)  ;  4-10-13  (III-i). 
I  THESSALONIANS  3:12   (XII-6);  4:9   (XII-6). 

222 


SCRIPTURE  PASSAGES 

II  THESSALONIANS  3:7-13  (IV-2)  ;  3:11,  12  (VII-i). 

I  TIMOTHY  6:9-11   (X-i)  ;  6:17-19  (HI-4)- 

II  TIMOTHY  3:1-9  (XI-6)  ;  4:6-8   (IV-6). 
TITUS  1:5,  10-13  (XI-4). 

HEBREWS  3:  12-14  (XII-2)  ;  11 : 32-38  (XI-3)  ;  12:  1-3  (XI-7). 
JAMES    1:27    (IX-i)  ;    2:1-9    (X-s)  ;    4:1-3    (X-4)  ;    5:1-5 

(X-2). 

I  PETER  1:22  (XII-6)  ;  4-  15,  16  (VII-i). 
I  JOHN  2:10   (XII-6);  3:14-18   (XII-i)  ;  3:17,   18    (IX-i)  ; 
4:7-13  (XII-3). 


SOURCES  OF  PRAYERS  USED  IN  THE  DAILY 
READINGS 

AQUINAS,  THOMAS — XII-3. 

BEECHER,  HENRY  WARD— VI-2 ;  VI-6 ;  X-2 ;  X-7-    "The  Origi- 
nal Plymouth  Pulpit,"  vol.  III. 

BERSIER,  EUGENE — VIII-3,     "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the 
Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 

BOOK  OF  COMMON  PRAYER — III-7;  XI-2. 

BOOK  OF   PRAYERS   FOR   STUDENTS — II-6 :    III-3 ;    V-5 ;    VI-7 ; 
VII-4;  IX-6;  X-s;  XII-2. 

BRENT,   BISHOP   CHARLES   R. — VII-6.     "Prayers    for   Today," 
Samuel  McComb. 

BROUGH,  DR.— VIII-2 ;  VIII-4-    "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God," 
Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 

CHRISTIAN  PRAYERS — III-i. 

CHURCH  GUILD — V-6.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages," 
S.  F.  Fox. 

DEARMER,  PERCY — VIII-6,  "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God,"  Gil- 
bert Clive  Binyon. 

ELLIS,  RUFUS — XI-i.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages," 
S.  F.  Fox. 

FRENCH   CORONATION  ORDER — I-i.     "Prayers   for  the  City  of 
God,"  Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 

GELASIAN  SACRAMENTARY — II-i.     "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across 
the  Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 

223 


THE  MEANING  OF  SERVICE 

GOTHIC  MISSAL — XI-4.  "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages," 
S.  F.  Fox. 

GRAHAM,  W.  B. — X-3.  "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God,"  Gil- 
bert Clive  Binyon. 

GRINDAL,  ARCHBISHOP — VI-4.  "The  Communion  of  Prayer," 
William  Boyd  Carpenter. 

HALL,  BISHOP — XII-6.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Age?," 

S.  F.  Fox. 
HERFORD,   BISHOP  VERNON — II-3-     "Prayers    for   the   City  of 

God,"  Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
HOLLAND,  H.   SCOTT — V-7.     "Prayers   for  the   City  of   God," 

Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
HORT,  F.  J.  A. — XI-6.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages," 

S.  F.  Fox. 
HUNTER,  JOHN — 1-4.     "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God,"  Gilbert 

Clive  Binyon ;  IX-l,  X-6,  "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the 

Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 

JACOBITE  LITURGY  OF  ST.  DIONYSIUS — X-4.     "Prayers  for  the 

City  of  God,"  Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
JOWETT,  BENJAMIN — XII-4. 
JOWETT,  JOHN  HENRY — V-i.     "The  Communion  of   Prayer," 

William  Boyd  Carpenter. 

KEMPIS,    THOMAS    A — III-5;    VII-i.      "The    Communion    of 

Prayer,"  William  Boyd  Carpenter. 
KEN,  BISHOP— V-4;  XI-7.     "Prayers   for  the  City  of   God," 

Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
KINGSLEY,    CHARLES — 1-3 ;    III-6 ;    VII-7.      "Prayers    for    the 

City  of  God,"  Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
KNIGHT,   W.   ANGUS — IV-4.     "Prayers   for   Today,"   Samuel 

McComb. 

LEONINE  SACRAMENTARY — XI-3.  "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across 
the  Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 

McCoMB,  SAMUEL — 1-5;  IV-i ;  IX-4;  "Prayers  for  Today." 

MACLAREN,  ALEXANDER — 1-2,  "Pulpit  Prayers." 

MACLEOD,     NORMAN — III-4;     VII-2.      "The     Communion     of 

Prayer,"  William  Boyd  Carpenter. 
MARTINEAU,  JAMES — II-5,  "A  Book'  of  Prayers  for  Students" ; 

V-2.     "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 
MATHESON,    GEORGE — IV-3.      "Prayers    for    Today,"    Samuel 

McComb. 

224 


SOURCES   OF  PRAYERS 

MILLER,    GEORGE    A.— IV-6;    VI-3-      "Prayers    for    Today," 

Samuel  McComb. 
M.   P.  G.  E. — X-i.     "Prayers  for  the  City  of  God,"  Gilbert 

Clive  Binyon. 
NASH,  HENRY  S.— IV-7. 
PRAYERS  FOR  THE  CITY  OF  GOD— VI-i ;  VIII-5 ;  XI-5 ;  XII-5. 

Gilbert  Clive  Binyon. 
QUEEN  ELIZABETH'S  PRAYER  BOOK — II-4. 
RAUSCHENBUSCH,    WALTER— IV-2;    VI-s;    VIII-i ;    VHI-y; 

IX-2;  IX-3.    "Prayers  of  the  Social  Awakening." 
RIDDING,  BISHOP — 1-6. 
ROSSETTI,     CHRISTINA     G. — IV-S.       "Prayers,     Ancient     and 

Modern,"  Mary  W.  Tileston ;  XII-7.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer 

Across  the  Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 
ST.  AUGUSTINE — V-3.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the  Ages," 

S.  F.  Fox. 
TAULER,  JOHN — XII-i.    "The  Communion  of  Prayer,"  William 

Boyd  Carpenter. 
TILLOTSON,  JOHN — VII-5.     "A   Chain   of    Prayer   Across   the 

Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 

WESTCOTT,  BISHOP — 11-2;  111-2;  VII-3. 
WESLEY,  JOHN — II-7. 
WILLIAMS,  ROWLAND — IX-7.    "A  Chain  of  Prayer  Across  the 

Ages,"  S.  F.  Fox. 


225 


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